


Where We Stand

by n0null



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Gen, Pokemon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-11-22 12:37:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11380335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n0null/pseuds/n0null
Summary: You find yourself in a hospital room that seems eerily wrong in some way. It's clean, pristine in fact, but you can't help but feel like you don't belong here. After a pokemon enters the room, memories come flooding in and reality hits you like a ton of bricks. You're far from home, and you're forced to adjust to a new sense of reality.





	1. Head First

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! This is my first story I've written in like five years. I'm trying to get back into the groove of it, so I apologize for any clerical or grammatical errors. I may come back and post some art to go along with each Chapter, but that may be a while from now. Until I'm confident in some things, you just get a wall of text, sorry! 
> 
> Also, I originally wanted to make a readerXguzma piece, but it turned into something way more interesting and I just went with it.  
> Anyways, thanks for checking me out, and I hope you enjoy the story enough to stay for the long haul!
> 
> I'll be posting new chapters once a week as of 7/2/17.

 

Bright lights attack your straining eyes as they begin to open. You blink multiple times trying to adjust to your surroundings but struggle to focus on anything. The room is reminiscent to a shady rest stop bathroom in the middle of nowhere, with stuttering fluorescent wall strips lining the ceiling in symmetrical rows. The walls are grey, but oddly cleanly. You try to look at what appears to be machines around you, but the light burning in your peripheral causes your eyes to strain and focus is impossible on them. It appears you are in a hospital, or so you would guess based on the round lights that are attached to the ceiling and the ever, ever so quiet beeping from what would appear to be a heart monitor.

 

Unbearable pain overcomes you in multiple areas as you gain more of your conscience. Being jackhammered would be less painful than what you feel all across your skull. An unceasing noise only comparable to the ringing you hear after a concert blares in your ears and it moves through your whole body. Your eyes suddenly burn even when they’re closed, but being open only causes a sensation similar to getting a handful of sand rubbed against your retinas. After you lick your lips, you realize they are horribly chapped, but the pain is so minute compared to your stiff shoulders that ache. Feeling your heartbeat sends a shiver down your body and you experience an odd sensation that you guess is a convulsion. Every single muscle in your body is begging you for help, but the loudest shriek from your aching body comes from your legs. Your thighs and calfs throb as you finally pay them a small semblance of attention.

 

All the pain added up, you scream at the top of your lungs. While you’re screaming, you realize that you can not hear your own voice and fear envelops your very being. Control is out of your grasp,  your eyes welling up with a liquid that eases the gurgling, acidic pain that has kept your eyes closed.  Your scream ceases and the tears pour out. Another scream escapes your lips, but midway through the howl of pain, the ringing begins to fade away, enough for you to hear footsteps. A voice murmurs in the background, and despite how hard you try, you can not focus enough to understand what is being said to you. You scream more, but this time, as you scream the pain eases. Morphine is the only possible drug you know could ease what you were just feeling, and it is possibly the most comforting thing you have felt.

 

You open your eyes once more, and a blurred figure is at your side. The room is far darker, and the only lights on now are the flickering florescent strips that reside above you. You can tell the person is speaking, but their lips are just shapes that morph from circles to cylinders to pyramids. Struggling to interpret the sounds the person is making is futile, and your ears give out as you focus what little energy you have left on feeling the textures around you. Under your right hand is where you focus your senses and the softness surprises you. It feels like a blanket made of fleece, and the blanket aspect is confirmed when your hand twitches enough to curl one finger. Your index finger pushes the blanket up against the palm of your hand. The feeling of fleece sends your body in a trance and your mind grows more at ease. Awareness leaves you and you are asleep once more…

 

Waking up for the second time is far less painful. Throbbing muscles and dry lips no longer pester your body, but your head does still hurt. You have yet to open your eyes but you fear what will be before you when you do. Instead, you use your first moments of consciousness to better comprehend your surroundings. There’s silence in the room, aside from the beeping of a machine that is clearly monitoring your heartbeat. It smells odd compared to the floral scent of… of where were you even thinking...?

 

You open your eyes, and the room is far more inviting this time. There is no one else inside, the lights above you are florescent again, but these do not flicker, nor are they dim. The room is a bright white and there’s a window to your right. Morning sun seems to be filling the outside with light. You can not determine anything outside aside from the sky, which is full of puffy white clouds with a golden gleam from the sun. The sky is dark blue in the distance, but it seems to be fading to a light blue. There’s a table to your immediate right side, a modern style that takes on the shape of a white hourglass. Atop the table sits two remotes, one of which is attached to your bed, the other a plain black television remote, and an old style phone that is a dirty tan. The more you lean over the bed, the clearer the cord for the phone that plugs into the wall. The outlet is close to the floor, made up of grey tiles that are eerily perfect and symmetrical. You lean back on your hospital bed and stare straight for a moment.

 

Flat screen televisions are rare, or so you think, in most hospital rooms because they are expensive and unnecessary. But there is one in front of you, hanging from the wall. It is not turned on, but the remote that is not attached to your bed seems to be the answer. You reach your hand out for the remote when you come to a bizarre realization. _You are flat._ Well, flat is probably the wrong word but you should be more colorful. The shading at the bottom of your arm is… a solid color. You flip your arm over so your palms are facing up. Blue veins are supposed to be on your wrist, but instead it’s just a solid color.

 

“Oh, you’re awake?” You jump in the bed and turn to your left where a woman wearing a halloween style white nurse outfit and cap stands in the doorway. Her long hair is a vibrant pink, and put up in insanely impressive, perfectly circular strands. Breathing is the only thing you can focus on after your analysis of the young lady. You’re overwhelmed by the reality of the situation. Or… the virtual reality?

 

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” The woman says. Her voice is charming and bubbly. It’s calm and warm. You cover your heart as it pounds against your chest.

 

“I… I-It’s fine,” Hoarsely, you stutter out easy words. Your eyes stare back down at your surroundings. There’s a white blanket covering your body, and you lift the blanket up to see that you are in a pure white hospital gown. You thought that hospital garb normally have simple patterns on them but as time is going on, you can not deny that this is not a normal hospital or a normal situation.

 

The lovely nurse begins to walk into the room further after she shouts something out the door at a person you can not see. She moves over to under the TV and grabs a white chair. There is an atmospherically fitting modern chair, similar to the table next to your bed. She brings the seat over to the side of your bed and sits down in it. Her posture is very professional, back straight and a big smile on her face.

 

“My name is nurse Joy,” she starts off and pauses for a moment while she thinks about what she plans on saying next, “i’m a nurse at the hospital you’re in currently.” _Duh._

 

“Where am I?” gagging on your own words, you cough heavily into your inner arm. The nurse tilts her head curiously. She puts up a finger as if it were an invaluable replacement for a light bulb, and she stands up out of the chair and escapes the room.

 

You sit in your bed, looking at your hands which still freak you out. It just doesn’t seem right. This whole place feels surreal to you. Actually, when you think about it further, it feels as if it’s _not actually real._ Something about your hands, and the shape of the table, and the chairs and the walls… None of it feels _real._

 

Nurse Joy comes back into the room and hands you a water bottle. You could swear your hands have never moved so fast to snag and open a water bottle. The crackling of the lid as it breaks the seal gets your heart racing and your hand brings the bottle up to your parched lips. You chug down the water, actually too fast. Some of the water goes down the wrong pipe and you cough hard enough to spew out some of the water. It drips down onto the white blanket, directly onto your groin. Once the coughing stops, you breath. The air feels so good on your previously dry throat. You drink some more water, but slower this time.

 

“Are you alright, ma'am?” nurse Joy asks suddenly while placing paper towels on your lap to help soak up some of the dribbled water. You nod in response. Heavy breathing follows your previous chugging of water, and then you chug what’s left. More heavy breathing follows that.

 

“Now,” she starts up again and you look over at her in the chair after putting the lid back on the water bottle. You hand her the plastic bottle and she places it with her hand in her lap, “what did you ask, young lady?”

 

You hesitate and take a couple more deep breaths, “Where am I?”

 

“You’re at the Hau’Oli city hospital. We are one of the three hospitals throughout the four islands here in Alola!” She says excitedly.

 

The names of where you are sound familiar. You look away from nurse Joy, whose name is also frustratingly familiar. You move your head down and your hands find their way atop it. Messing with your hair, you think long and hard about how and where you’ve heard these things before. While mid thought, you hear another person enter the room.

 

“Chansey!” You hear. You look up and to your left. There, a pink creature with a nurse hat on and an egg in a pouch approaches you. Your lips part, and you can feel words in your throat. They’re right on your tongue, the answers to some of your odd hunches.

 

“Holy fuck is this real?” You ask rhetorically. Of course, the nurse in front of you takes you seriously but she is taken aback by your words. She actually _cringes_ in response to hearing the word ‘fuck.’ She acts like a mother that just heard her 21 year old daughter swear in front of her. And funny enough, the Chansey even cringed! After that lapse of character, the nurse composes herself and prepares a proper response.

 

“Well of course this is real!” She excitedly hums, “What else could this be if it was not real?”

 

“A video game called Pokemon Sun and Moon,” you respond immediately. You turn yourself towards the window and grab the remote and hit the red button. It turns on the TV and a show about malasada’s starts to play. Thank god that the red button is universal for ‘on’ and ‘off.’

 

“A video game, huh? ” The nurse asks. The Chansey hums it’s own name as it walks up next to your bedside. You set the remote back down on the table, and look over at the Pokemon, which is really in front of you. You reach your hand out towards the Chansey, but it leans back, like a small dog that’s being towered over by a big old lovable Newfoundland.

 

“Can I pet you?” You ask the Chansey. The Chansey hesitates for a moment, then leans closer to you to nod and smile.

“Chansey,” they gleefully exclaim.

.

You excitedly reach your hand over and start rubbing the Chansey. It’s skin is smooth and soft. It’s like touching a baby’s butt. As you pet the Chansey and rub it’s cheek, it leans into your hand almost purring while softly saying it’s own name. It seems to really like you. All the while, Nurse Joy has been quietly observing you. She has a concerned look on her face that you didn’t notice before. She stands up and walks over to the far left corner where a recyclable container and trash can are, and she puts the plastic bottle in the recyclables. She then walks over to a board with a bunch of random things all over it, and grabs a clipboard with a bunch of papers attached that were sitting in a bin attached to the board. She walks back over to the seat and sits back down. While she was doing that, you just kept petting the Chansey, admiring it’s soft skin.

 

“What do you mean by this is a video game?” Nurse Joy’s face shows immense confusion, and a little bit of worry while she writes something down on the clipboard. Although, who could blame her for being confused and scared when some weirdo that came out of…. Wait where did you even come from?

 

“Well, from what I remember, pokemon are not real. They only exist in video games along with this world and the people. To me, you were just an image on a screen that stood at a counter to heal your pokemon. You never said more than that or had a personality,” explaining this is strange. Disbelief is not an expression that hides on her face, and she seems to actually _understand._ She seems to be writing down everything you’re saying. Trying to continue where you left off, “I guess, to me… you and all of this… It isn’t… It just isn’t _real._ Where I’m from, we only have animals. Pokemon don’t exist except in games.”

 

Nurse Joy shakes her head while adorning a newfound smile. She puts the pen she was using to write down to inquire, “well, whether I am just numbers and pictures in your eyes, I am real. I have lived for 30 years and seen this world change. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I feel real. I have thoughts of my own that I control, and I feel emotions that are incited by action and consequences. I think, and I feel. I can only assume that I am alive and that I exist. Do you think the same for yourself?”

 

You stare at her, somewhat dumbfounded. You’ve played pokemon your whole life, but this nurse never felt like a human being. This is real. Even though these characters were made by some guy, they are here right now and exist as humans who live fulfilling lives. They find their own purpose and make their own decisions. The pokemon are the same way. Possibly, this world is more real than your own home.

 

“Can you remember anything about where you’re from? Maybe you can at least remember how you ended up fainting in the Ruins of Conflict?” nurse Joy inquires. With the shake of your head from left to right, you follow it up with a question.

 

“Wait, what are the Ruins of Conflict?”

 

“That’s the temple where the guardian of our Island, Tapu Koko, resides. It’s right past Iki Town.”

 

“How did I end up there,” you whisper to yourself. A flash of images appear before your eyes as you remember something. With eyes half open and awareness almost nonexistent, you feel weightless. The only thing you see is the sky of a two dimensional world that you didn’t recognize until now. Your eyes close and thinking back, you can tell that you were falling from the sky. When your eyes peek open again, piercing blue eyes with a stripe of orange are looking at you. Comforted by its warmth and roundness, your sight blurs into darkness. The last thing you hear is a subtle cooing, and the voice of a man shouting. During your flashback, nurse Joy was still asking you questions, but since you didn’t respond she just let you sit there silently for a moment.

 

“Well, I am required to ask you some basic questions,” nurse Joy suddenly says. Although her voice is still warm and fuzzy, she is a lot more serious than she was at first. You do not respond and continue petting the Chansey that’s happily accepting all of the attention it can get. You’re reminded of a labrador retriever that just can’t get enough love and it’s extremely comforting.

 

“Do you know what your name is?” She inquires. You stop petting the Chansey.

 

“Uhm,” you mumble, “I… I uhm…. I don’t… I don’t know.”

 

Who even are you? How do you know that Pokemon is a video game, but you don’t even know who you are? You know that this world isn’t real, you know that the person in front of you shares the same name as every single nurse in every other region of the Pokemon Universe, but you don’t even know your own name? Wait… Wait! You’re not from this universe! You’re not from here, from this whole dimension. You’re from a world where the earth isn’t just blue and green from afar, it’s a whole color spectrum that enlightens your eyes. You’re from a universe where flowers share their vibrant blues with darker hues of navy and a deep purple where it’s darkest. You’re from a universe that’s three dimensional, wrinkled in the face and hands, hairy in all the wrong places, incredibly ugly, and very, very _real._

 

“Again, do you know where you’re from? Where is your home?” nurse Joy interrupts your thoughts and you look up at her and her flat, beautiful face. It’s so smooth, so soft looking. You touch your own face and turn your head down facing your buried legs. It’s just as smooth as you thought it would be. It’s soft, smooth and probably beautiful.

 

“I need to look at myself in a mirror,” you insist as you snap your head to face her.

 

“O-Oh! Chansey, could you grab us a mirror?” Chansey runs off out the door. It comes back into the room after only a moment and holds up a small makeup mirror. Chansey hands you the mirror. Before you open it, you take a moment to appreciate the intricate pattern that covers the top. It takes on the shape of a Chansey. You then flip it open and look at yourself.

 

You look just like you did in your previous universe, but far more simplified. Your face looks similar to nurse Joy’s face in structure. It’s very cute and round. Nobody would recognize you back at home if you went back with the face you currently have. On the other hand, your eyes are the same as they were in your universe as well as your eye color. Your lips too are beautiful. The shape hardly resembles the shape that they were at home.

 

“I look so different,” you say exactly what you were thinking aloud.

 

“What?” nurse Joy asks. The Chansey at her side tilts its head out of curiosity as well.

 

“Oh! Uh! Uh! UH! FUCK!” You shout and curse a little more under your breath while looking away. Would they believe you if you told them that you’re from a different universe? You suppose it couldn’t hurt to share with them some of your memories… What little you have at least.

 

“Well,” you begin, “I don’t remember much, but I know for sure that I’m from a completely different universe. A universe where… well this may sound strange but a universe that’s three dimensional.”

 

Nurse Joy tilts her head, while the Chansey tilts itself so far that it falls onto its side, still giving a confused and curious look at you.

 

“It’s hard for me to explain!” You say, embarrassed and somewhat ashamed of yourself for sharing that in the first place.

 

“Are you being honest with me?” nurse Joy asks, her voice sounds almost hurt.

 

“I swear on my life that I am being one hundred percent fucking serious. I don’t remember anything about myself but I vividly remember odd details about where I’m from. The faces people made were wrinkled, and people have acne, so many skin impurities and textures are intense. Colors are not flat, they’re vibrant and full of an array of hues! My fingers in my universe are not just a solid color, there’s a light that reflects off of it at every angle and it’s complex. Oh, and we don’t have pokemon in my world. I’m like five hundred percent sure though that if we had pokemon, either all the people would die or all the pokemon would go exti-”

 

“Calm down, young lady!” nurse Joy sends your thoughts to a careening halt. You breath heavily again, and you hear the heart monitor beeping more than before. Your heart rate increased when you started to think about your own universe. You suddenly begin to remember the atrocities that occurred in your universe. Most vividly, you recall a life changing journey around Europe. All kinds of people were with you on your trip, but what you remember best was the time you went to a concentration camp in Germany. Somber wasn’t even close to the atmosphere that swallowed the vicinity. It was heavy and your heart slowed down while you walked through the small buildings that people had been cramped into. Walking around caused no pain, for the pain of those who suffered there was far greater than anything imaginable. Hardest of all was walking into a gas chamber and seeing where millions of innocent victims fell prey to a society built around religion and race.

 

You recall a country, which you may or may not have lived in, where the ruler was a man who shouted hate. Support was shown for the upper classes, the people who controlled everything. Their power stretched across the whole world because money was more important than morality. Greed is not just looked upon as success, it is valued and treasured. People want everything because they are never satisfied, and the government knows that. The millionaires and billionaires all know this and take advantage of humans most prevalent sin. Money releases officers that gunned down innocent civilians. Money frees the boys who recorded and released a video online of them raping a drunk, drugged up young girl. Those poor boys, how their lives will be ruined because of this. Of course, it was easy to segregate people based on their skin because they were dangerous, _because they were different._ Those who did not share the same skin tone were pushed into areas with drugs and crime, and were kept in a continuous cycle of poverty because the government and human beings could care less if they ceased to exist.

 

Animals were never, and will never be viewed as entities that are remotely close to being equals. After all the videos you saw on the internet, of girls beating their dogs because they didn’t listen. Of young kids throwing puppies into a running river _just for fun._ Of people who think that elephants that can paint are cool, despite the fact that training an elephant to paint involves forcibly putting a brush up their nostril. Animals are not alive to many people because they are objects that they can buy and sell. If you can buy and sell something, then it is obviously less than you. Even though it breathes, even though it tries to just live, it does not deserve freedom to most. Confinement is a blessing compared to death, but that cage defines it as property, and property is not human.

 

War is the best answer to most people from where you are from. You remember reading textbooks that described wars throughout history. People fighting over land because it was more important than the life of a human being. When it wasn’t land, it was religion. If you don’t believe in the same god, or share the same beliefs as me, then you don’t deserve to live. That seemed to be the thought process of people until recently. Those wars fought for faith were never truly about right or wrong. Always, the underlying cause was _money_. War is greed, and people love both death and power. Bloodshed is just human, and despite having seen so many images of dead bodies, none of them could truly make you cry because you are so accustomed to death.

 

“Why are you crying?” nurse Joy hands you a tissue. Chansey has a concerned look on its face and it’s rubbing your leg.

 

“I’m just… You have no idea how grateful I am to be here.”


	2. Adjusting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same as last chapter, I'd appreciate any constructive criticism about anything! I hope you all enjoy!

It’s been a week, and your memory has slowly come back to you. You’ve been getting up and walking around. Rehabilitation has been easy with pokemon around, their abilities make everything generally pleasant. Even when they make mistakes, they are always able to apologize in some way and make up for what they have done. It is enlightening and pleasant. The only thing that has been difficult for you is readjusting your eyes to this world. Sure, it looks three dimensional when you turn your hands and it isn’t that anything looks fake. Wrapping your head around the fact that you are in a video game universe is insane. When you see Pokemon, you experience every part of them. Senses are meant to be used, but it’s just crazy when wafts of crisp potatoes fly your way every time an Arcanine you call Clifford passes. When he caught glimpse of you, he immediately took to you. He adores you so much that he’ll let you touch his paws. Petting him is even more bizarre. Fur in your world ranges from extremely soft to coarse and rugged. Arcanine wasn’t just soft, a small graze of your fingers against his fur takes you back to being an infant experiencing the feeling of softness for the very first time. Not only do the people and pokemon smell different, but the food tastes otherworldly. You struggle to describe the textures of any hospital food, even though it’s normally pretty simple and doesn’t hold a lot of flavor. Textures of every single piece of meat you’ve put in your mouth have been a wild ride. Medicine does not consist of pills or terrible tasting liquids, rather an egg from Chansey once a day does the trick. Tender and sweet, the egg feels like cotton candy made of pure love when it touches your tongue. Taste buds howl in ecstasy when they process the flavor. There was one time when you ate a piece of Magikarp. Nurse Joy insisted that you had to try it if you never have. The only way to describe it would be mush that tastes like uncooked eggs with Cajun seasoning. 

 

Minus the first day, you have not cried about being in a whole new world. You also have yet to remember your name, or how you came to this world from your own. Oddly enough, you remember your family, your friends, the country and town you come from. You remember the names of the roads you once drove on, or were driven on. You remember the toys you grew up with, and the neighbor that used you out of jealousy. Memories of the past have flooded your mind this last week, and every time a tidal wave of images, smells, textures, feelings, and sounds come crashing down, you have to sit back and take a minute to breath. The pokemon that has helped you the most has been that very sweet Arcanine which has yet to leave your side. The reason you call him Clifford is because he acts just like the big red dog you remember from the stories you were read as a child. The shenanigans he gets himself into just further your assumption that his name is actually Clifford. He acts like he’s a small little dog, when in reality he’s too big for whatever he tries to do.

 

Example, on the fourth day of your recovery he decided to play hide and seek with you. All you remember is closing your eyes one minute, and falling on the cold hard, white panels the next while some ketchup that was sitting on the side table squirted all over the floor around your head. The face he gave you was the best part. He stood over the sideways hospital bed with the most guilty, horrified look on his face. Clifford was so shocked he fell over and passed out. He shook the room so much that the flatscreen fell over and was smashed to pieces.  When Nurse Joy finally ran in, she was hysterical and ended up calling the police, fire department, and for some reason the Kahuna of Melemele island. When they all came in and realized that you were just covered in ketchup, they were so pissed that nurse Joy was almost fired. The Kahuna on the other hand thought it was just as hysterical as you did when you finally came to. Laughing never hurt so much until that moment.

 

Back to today though, as a gift from the nurse and for some reason Hala, they decided to take you out to a buffet in the big mall. Nurse Joy changed out of her work uniform and into more casual clothes which consisted of big, round sunglasses with mauve rims. She adorns a loose, grey shirt that’s tucked into her high-waisted, light blue shorts. Her shoes are basic black flats. Similarly, Hala also is in his casual attire which consists of his oversized yellow jacket with large white, tropical flowers all over it. Underneath the jacket is a plain, blue t-shirt with a white fabric that resembles a martial arts belt. His white pants go down to his knees, and at the very bottom are blue flip flops. Once you look past their attire, you realize how odd the interior of the building is while skimming around. Your recollection of the playthroughs make the appearance of the place surreal. The flooring is hard, but creaky in some places. 

 

After you enter it fully, Hala makes special requests for you and nurse Joy to not have to battle, but you both still ended up with far too much food thanks to Hala and his powerful pokemon. What you eat with them is amazing, and tastes nothing like the food from your universe. The flavors were dreamy, and you could only truly understand the texture in your fantasies.

 

While eating something that looks like Sushi, but tastes like minty, garlic flavored duck, Hala turns to you after finishing a conversation that you completely missed with nurse Joy. He smiles and gives out a hearty laugh and you look over to him and raise an eyebrow.

 

“You’re getting used to everything really fast young lady!” he practically shouts at you and he almost spews some of his own food onto you. 

 

“Honestly, getting accustomed to everything here is easy. Everyone is so nice, and Clifford has practically become my best friend,” you explain and follow it up by shoving some of the Sushi-esque food in your face. Hala grins and pats your back surprisingly gently.

 

“Do you know how to battle?” He asks out of the blue. You look over at him, some rice stuck to your face and somehow some sauce is on your nose. At least, you only assume there’s food all over your face from the disgusted face that a passerby throws at you.

 

“Well… I guess I do? It’s really hard for me to explain how I know, and the way I know how to is probably not anywhere similar to battling in person,” you pick up a napkin and finally wipe whatever food was on your face off. You look at the napkin and there was indeed rice and sauce on your face. There was actually more than you expected and you eat the rice from the napkin, and then wipe your face off again with that same napkin. Don’t waste any food, mother said.

 

“That Arcanine-”

 

“Clifford,” you correct.

 

“Yes, Clifford seems very attached to you. You should take him with you as your first partner and try your hand at the island challenge!” He says this to you with his eyes full of excitement.

 

“Oh that would be wonderful for her! She’ll be able to see the whole Alola region that way!” nurse Joy squeals excitedly. She even claps her hands she’s so excited.

 

“You ought to go out and adventure! That’s what all the young kids do!” Hala pats your back again, but hard and some of the food you had eaten comes back up and some of the rice flies out and back onto your plate.

 

“I mean, even though I’m 21 it’s okay?” You ask shyly.

 

“Wait you’re 21?” both Nurse Joy and Hala ask in unison, and both lean close to you. Their eyes shine with wonder.

 

“How do you stay looking so youthful?” Nurse Joy asks.

 

“I don’t know, I mean I did just wake up here one day and in my universe I had a lot of acne that I picked at out of stress so,” you ramble on a little bit, and nurse Joy sits back.

 

“Your universe?” Hala asks.

 

“Oh… uhm… I’m…. not from around here….?” you sort of ask, but really you have no idea how you could simply explain that you’re from a dimension where this whole world was just a game that helped you through depressive episodes and existential anxiety.

 

“Now I’m very curious young lady! You don’t remember your name but you’re from another universe?” He questions more. You start to get nervous. You look around and mutter words, trying to come up with the right excuse for your previous statement.

 

“It’s a very hard subject to talk about and explain,” Nurse Joy to the rescue. Hala nods and shrugs it off.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” in an apologetic manner he says this. He gestures with his hands as well in some odd way that doesn’t quite match his apologetic tone. You smile at him and nod, trying to show that it’s fine he asked. (This is awkward wording)

 

“Well, let’s get this back on track. Young lady, I think you should start an Island Challenge with Clifford and learn how to become a trainer! Of course, if you have no intere-”

 

“How the hell could I not be interested?!” 

 

“Ho Ho Ho! I love your enthusiasm. If you’d like, I can take you under my wing and be your teacher! I love your enthusiasm and I think you’ll get very far in life with an attitude like that!”

 

You smile wide. This will be the start to your new life, your new adventure. It will be full of surprises of course, but you can handle it. You have nurse Joy and Hala as friends now, and a big Arcanine that is most likely a higher level than most pokemon on the first three islands. He shows a lot of promise and is really powerful. With how much he adores you, training him to listen to you will be easy. 

 

“I would love to train under you, Hala,” you tell him finally.

 

Once everyone has finished their food, you get up and leave. Hala and nurse Joy tell you that they have to work out the details of your training and hospital leave. In the meantime, nurse Joy hands you a surprisingly large wad of Pokedollars and insists that you visit the boutique to buy yourself some new clothing. After all, you have been wearing the clothes you came here in, which are tattered and obviously worn thanks to whatever happened when you first arrived. So you turn to leave, when Hala hands you  _ another _ wad of cash and tells you that you deserve to look beautiful. You wonder to yourself if he was hitting on you, but that would be weird and unusual. 

 

You run off to the boutique excitedly. When you come back out after perusing around for about 20 minutes, you are adorned in a completely different outfit. Compared to the other clothing you’ve been walking around in, you look more on par with a princess. You found yourself a dress that’s tight around the chest with no straps, and loose around the bottom, flaring out. The color maroon looks good on you, and the golden tropical flower print that covers the bottom half of the dress compliments the dress on the whole. Around your right shoulder, a very minimally designed white purse lays against your side. Strap on, one inch golden heels match your dress perfectly and the white floppy hat with a red flower atop your head completes the whole outfit. You’re certain that this new outfit will help you fit in a lot more easily. You find your way to the outside of the mall where Hala and nurse Joy are waiting for you. Nurse Joy looks like she’s about ready to leave soon though.

 

“That was money well spent!” Hala declares.

 

You raise an eyebrow. Seriously, is he hitting on you? You brush it off though, “u-uhm... Thanks!”

 

You glance at nurse Joy and she waves at you to come over, so you do and she says while pointing to the right, “look who’s here!”

 

You look to where she’s pointing and you see your big old pupper wagging his fluffy tail off as soon as he see’s you. You run over to him, telling him to stay there. Of course, he doesn’t understand what you’re saying so he jumps on you and knocks you on to the ground. He licks your face and you laugh while trying to push his face away. Eventually he gets off of you and you stand up.

 

“I have to head back to the hospital, so you two have fun with the professor!” nurse Joy waves at you and Hala. She had already called a ride pokemon, and she hops on a tauros. Tauros rampages off on the street and after the dust that follows it clears, Joy was out of sight.

 

“So are we just walking to his lab?” You ask while Clifford rubs himself up against you, “or maybe we could ride Clifford there.”

 

Hala chuckles, “that’s funny ‘cause I was just about to offer you the same thing.”

 

You cringe,  _ so hard _ , after he says that. Of course, you hide your disgust and laugh it off. You pat Clifford’s back and ask him if you can hop on. He approvingly nudges against your face, so you jump on his back and decides to howl. While you were getting on Clifford, you realize that Hala has already walked about 50 feet, so you tell Clifford to follow him and he does. Your dog is so picky about what he does and doesn’t listen to… You need to train his little pupper butt. After about only a minute or so, you’re already caught up with Hala. Despite his age and physique, Hala is a damn strong power walker. Actually, when you look at his legs you realize just how toned they are. Even Clifford has to trot in order to keep up with him. 

 

“So, do you know Professor Kukui?” Hala asks.

 

“Well, I guess I do in a way. He more than likely doesn’t have a clue as to who I am though,” stating the facts here, you look to your right out at the ocean, it’s so blue and there are tons of pokemon jumping around in the water with their trainers. There are also some trainers battling wild pokemon and some are trying to catch the very same pokemon. It’s interesting watching this all first hand. You can also hear everything they’re shouting and the pokemon’s responses. People are battling on the beach as well, albeit far more casually than those catching the pokemon in the ocean. Krabbys emerge onto the beach, and you watch as one decides to pester a gentleman with black trunks by pinching his toe. Laughter fills the air around you and Hala as the guy shouts and yells at the krabby. Meanwhile, some girl he appears to have been hitting on attempts to assist him. Seemingly out of fear, the krabby pinches her bikini top right in the middle and her top, which had no straps, falls to the ground. She immediately covers herself up, crying for help. You look to Hala, who is also watching the events on the beach unfold and he’s laughing up a storm.

 

“Would you be interested in hearing a little more about… well me?” after Hala’s laughter ends, you decided to ask this.

 

Hala claps a couple of times and nods, “I would love to hear all about you! I don’t have the slightest clue as to who you are! All I know is that you’re a  _ dang fine  _ young woman who seems to be great with pokemon.”

 

You blush a little at the fact that he notices that you’re good with pokemon, and then try to focus yourself back onto the topic at hand, “well, as I said earlier, I’m from what I would assume is a whole ‘nother dimension. One where people look entirely different, and where pokemon do not exist. We have these creatures we call animals. There are hundreds of thousands of species of animals, similar to pokemon. Uhm well… So in my world, we don’t have regions like here, we have seven continents, and hundreds of countries and sovereigns within each one. Uhm…”

 

Hala stops and turns to you after letting loose a boisterous laugh, “let’s save the details of your world for later. Tell me about yourself!”

 

“Oh uhm,” you look away, “well where I’m from I enjoyed video games. I also like spending time with my friends. We go out and drink at bars every now and then but we mostly go to places where you pay for time and get unlimited games. It’s a ton of fun.”

 

With a loud, hearty laugh, he continues walking on towards Kukui’s. You seem to be fairly close, or so you would assume. You’re on route one at this point, marching through some tall grass. Now the tall grass was not what you imagined. When you reached your hand out to feel it, the grass itself was strangely smooth. Feeling it was similar to brushing your hand across a large sheet of linen. You were expecting grass that would scratch you up if you fell into it.

 

You continue chatting with Hala about yourself, and you tell him about your family life, about your experiences with animals from your world and a story from back in high school and how you almost failed a class thanks to some douchebag, he cringed when you said that. This is another thing that’s odd about this universe. Anytime you swear or use a bad word, people know that you are saying a bad word and they always react to it, but they don’t say anything about you having said the word. Perhaps they accept bad language and recognize it as part of their language, but they don’t hear it used often.

 

While hopping off of Clifford, you decide it’s about time to ask about what’s up with swearing, “hey, why do you and everyone I’ve come by give me weird looks when I cuss?”

 

He looks down and all over the place, his hands fidget behind his back, “well, no one believes it’s necessary to use those words. After the big war, most people made an effort to end harsh forms of hatred.” 

 

You pat Clifford on his rump and ask him to stay outside while you deal with some things inside. As you’re about to delve further into the subject of curses, Kukui bursts through the front door shouting,  **“Alola!!!”**

 

You look at him, and he waves to both of you, “come inside, come inside!”

 

“Make yourself at home!” he tells you once you’ve made it through the door.

 

He’s far friendlier than you thought he would be, but you also know that he’s a good hearted person. Despite how he looks in the games you remember, his baggy sweats are slanted slightly to the right, and his lab coat is falling off the right side as well. His hips are showing, and you can see some of his pubic hair peeking out… Your eyes move away from his crotch and up to his face which is looking at Hala while they talk aimlessly. His shades are cool, and his hat is on even though he’s inside. He also smells  _ divine _ . It’s musky and masculine. Cedar wood burning on a cool summer night compares to the smell that blesses you with it’s presence. His body is fit too, jawline is just as strong as you remember. Handsome and smart is a fantastic combination, and you have to resist from letting your jaw fall agape. Once you move past the smell he gives off, you take a seat in a big breakfast, corner nook on the left side of the room. Hala follows you and takes a seat right next to you. His arm slips its way around your neck and he leans back. Kukui on the other hand sits on the other side where there’s more space.

 

“So Kukui, this little lady is looking for an adventure!” Hala states. With the way he’s been talking, it sounds like he wants you to adventure right onto his di-

 

“I know this shouldn’t be too much to ask, but do you have any more of those pokedex?” straight to the point this time, “I don’t know if she needs the fancy one with Rotom in it, but I’m sure a pokedex would help her a ton for the island challenge.”

 

“You’re in luck! I do have a pokedex!” Kukui excitedly exclaims and he runs off in search of the pokedex they had been discussing. Hala takes this time to make even more strange advances on you. He uses the arm that’s around your shoulder to give it a gentle rub, and you look over at him.

 

“Well missy, looks like your quest is gonna be ten times easier now, thanks to me!” he says.

 

“I owe you one, Hala,” you respond, not thinking much of it. 

 

“Oh?” He leans in towards you and shifts his hand that’s not on your shoulder to your knee closest to him, “oh, I’m gonna have to cash that check soon.”

 

It’s not like you’re leading him on here. You’ve made an effort to brush off what he says and ignore the odd jests, but it’s putting you on edge and it’s getting weird. He literally just implied that you practically owe him a blowjob. At this point, you’re not even smiling and you shove his hand off of your knee. You realize that it’s about time for you to push back at his lude commentary, “I’m cool with favors and all, but I know old guys and I gotta tell you upfront here, I’m not into pissing on people.”

 

Hala is taken aback by your statement, but after he thinks about it more, he gives out a good laugh and takes his arm off of your shoulder. He’s actually laughing so hard he’s smacking the table and holding onto his stomach.

 

“I had no idea you were funny!” You’re not sure if he understands that you just rejected him. Honestly, not ever in a million years did you expect Hala to be the male equivalent to a cougar. Thankfully, Kukui comes back in and he hands you a Rotomdex. 

 

“Did I miss something?”

 

“Nothing too important, but this girl is pretty funny when she wants to be!” While Hala is speaking, Kukui presses a button on the Rotomdex and it suddenly comes to life. It jumps up and begins to float around while it boots. Then, it basically starts living.

 

“Hello there trainer! I’m your new pokedex! Call me Rotom! Call me Dex! I’ll probably love you either way!” the rotom excitedly spins around you as it says this. You hold out your hands and Rotom places himself nice and neatly right between them. You press some button on his face and mess around with his functions. On him, you discover he contains a map, the pokedex, a calculator, and some other odds and ends that could come in handy. 

 

“Wow I haven’t seen a Rotom that excited since I made my first one!” Kukui excitedly informs you.

 

“I guess I’m more technologically savvy than I thought,” you say jokingly. Kukui gets a laugh out of your comment and he smiles, “so Hala, what are your plans for Miss…?”

 

You look at him blankly, not realizing what he’s asking, “what?”

 

“Miss What?” 

 

“No! Wait what???” 

 

“What’s your name, young lady?” Kukui finally asks the question in a more straightforward manner.

 

“I dunno.”

 

“Oh. I see… Well that’s troublesome! What do you want me to call you?” Kukui asks, he’s very polite, apparently. 

 

“Call me whatever you want, as long it’s not something horribly mean,” you say as you start to fidget with your bag a little bit.

 

“How does Moon sound?” Kukui inquires.

 

“If that’s what makes you happy, professor,” this answer warrants a chuckle from Kukui, and he turns to Hala.

 

“So what training regimen have you got planned for miss Moon, Hala?”

 

Hala perks up and begins rambling about his plans. As he describes what he’ll teach you, you begin to compare his plan to how people train dogs at home. Someone you once knew from home trained dogs using positive reinforcement, which is what it sounds like Hala will teach. Hala also begins to talk about Z-moves and the motions that go with them. Strange to think that you once saw characters swishing their hands around and now you’ll be able to join them. Once Hala finishes describing, in detail, his plans for training you, you ask him if you can get out. He playfully responds with a no, and then proceeds to move out anyway. You walk to the door slip your heels on, but before you grab the handle to the door, Hala runs over.

 

“Wait! I almost forgot to give you these,” he pulls a few things out of his pocket and begins handing them over to you. Firstly, you notice a cell phone, the screen is cracked down the middle and on the top reads ‘SAMSUNG.’ Attached to the phone are earbuds, which look to be in fine condition. You put the phone and earbuds in your bag first, then Hala gives you what appears to be a black keycard. Uncertain of it’s purpose, you inspect it further. What catches your eye first is the very peculiar design on the back of it, which takes the shape of an elongated and fancy sideways ‘U.’ There’s a line that goes through the center of the U, cutting it in half. When flipped over, there’s nothing more than black empty space and a tiny word centered at the top.

 

“Spero?” the word is not even spoken, but it’s a part of your breath when you say it. No one heard, luckily. You slip it into your bag.

 

“Nurse Joy asked me to give you this stuff. She said that these things were on you when we found you at the temple. Maybe they’ll help you remember more.” 

 

“It may be some time before I remember why I had them though...”

 

“Oh! And one more thing before you head outside,” Hala puts a finger up, as if it would actually stop you from leaving. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a Z-Ring. Once in your grasp, you slip your fingers through the hole and slide it onto your wrist. It fits nearly perfectly. 

 

“You look like a real trainer with that Z-Ring!” unnecessarily Kukui adds.

 

You smile at both of them and thank them for everything. You finally finish slipping your shoes on and you head out the door. While you’re closing the door, you catch the tail end of Hala and Kukui’s conversation.

 

“Do we know how she got here?” Kukui whispers

 

“No, but I don’t know that we need to.”

 

You close the door behind you with a fairly loud smacking of wood on wood and walk down the steps of the lab. As soon as you step foot on the sand, you look around and to your left, you can see your big, fluffy buddy galloping towards you. You prepare yourself mentally for the inevitable jump and falling on the ground, but surprisingly, he comes careening to a halt right in front of you. He gives your face a good licking, and in response you laugh and push his head away. Once your meet and greet with your good friend is done, you look over to where you’ve been hearing the sound of waves gently pushing closer. The ocean is vast before you, and you can slightly see the other islands off in the distance. Clear skies with only a few puffy clouds lay above you in what feels like it’s own ocean covering the planet. Sun beams caress your revealed skin, which reminds you that you should probably go back inside and ask for sunblock. Unfortunately, doing so would probably result in more alone time with Hala, which you  _ really _ don’t want. Guess you’re better off turning into a lobster. 

 

Deciding that now is the time to take off your shoes, you kick them off of your feet and then throw them closer to the lab behind you. You run closer to the water and put your toes in the dry sand and wriggle them around for a minute. The sand here feels just like it did back at home. Grainy, some shells that poke the underside of your foot, but soft in a sense. Burying your feet deeper into the sand, you feel it as it trickles down, filling any gaps and covering your feet. You stand for a moment, admiring the view. After taking in the sight, you decide to run to the water. Cold and refreshing, it pushes around your feet. As you move further into the water, it surrounds your feet. Ankle high is where you decide to stop, but rather than standing in the water, you kick it around and splash it all over the place. As if you called him, Clifford comes barreling into the water. He splashes into slightly deeper water that reaches his knees. Splashing around in the water, some of it gets sprayed up onto your dress and you can’t help but laugh at your friend’s personality. He runs off further down the beach, and you look out at the ocean once more.

 

Time at this very moment feels non existent. Caught up in the image of your new reality, you try to use more than just your eyes to experience this. A gentle breeze brushes against your skin and wafts across the tip of your nose. Sneaking into your nostrils, the salty, humid air reminds you of summers past that you spent with your family. Memories begin to envelop your thoughts, and images of your vacations to the beach appear. Boogie-boarding has alway been fun, even as you’ve grown older and you remember learning how to do it and every single time you failed. You remember that with each failed attempt, you would always get salt water in your nose and mouth. Soothing you after your first sandcastle was washed away, your siblings were right there by your side, telling you that the a turtle took it to show it off to other sea animals. Car rides to restaurants that gave your parents headaches because the one who reacted the most was being picked on. Dinners out to nicer restaurants almost always ended in chaos because someone just  _ had  _ to piss off the waitress by asking for too much. Drunken parents dancing around the hotel room to old songs you don’t even know, and everyone laughing when they made fools of themselves while trying their hand at Uno. These are times that you will never forget, whether the world around you back then sucked or not. Your childhood still brings you joy from time to time. Despite every attempt at removing these memories from your mind, despite this beautiful scene before you, despite the fact that you know full well that this world will treat you better than your own ever would, you still miss it. Every time you recall the past, your friends and family, your heart aches. It hurts to think about the people you left behind because you love them all. Forgetting them is impossible. These memories of the past helped you become who you are today, whether it be the time you got a perfect score on a big test, or the time when your parents told you that dreams rarely come true. You miss your family, you miss your friends, you miss your pets that you hope someone is taking care of. You miss your mother’s comforting voice as she helps you through your first major break up and your father’s warm embrace when he finally comes home from work. You miss having someone convince you not to give up when all the little, trivial pains of life add up and you’re ready to give up. No matter how hard the people here try, they will never be your family. 

 

You miss it all. You miss home.


	3. 5% Battery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for posting this a day late!!! I actually had the whole chapter ready, then I decided to change some things and rewrote quite a lot!!! I had to rearrange some things because I was really unhappy with the flow and general non descriptive way I had written it originally. I also had to leave for a surprise four day trip to New York City for my sister which put a kink in my writing plans.... Anyways! I also need to let you know that I will be posting chapter 4 this week once I'm happy with it because I will be away from all technology for a week as of this coming Saturday. Horray for camping vacations!!! Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!!! c: 
> 
> Also, as always, if you have any constructive criticism, I'm very open to hearing you out!! Thank you and have a wonderful day!

It has officially been three weeks since you first dropped in on the world of Pokemon. Thanks to the support of a plethora of people on Melemele island, you have gained a pretty thorough understanding for how to train and catch pokemon. Hala has given you a huge helping hand in regards to your well-being. There’s a roof over your head, and you’re offered four meals a day. Hau, Hala’s 11 year old grandson, and Hala live under the same roof as you. Eleven year-old boys are so full of energy, and you actually have a lot of fun playing random games with him. Sometimes you fear that you’re absorbing his youthful spirit like some sort of vampire because he just gives you so much life that you don’t recall ever feeling before coming here. Well, that could also just be the sun and the fact that you’re practically on an extended vacation to Hawaii.

 

Hala is an excellent teacher if you can move past his creepy, old man advances. You actually have grown so accustomed to his flirtatious attitude that you throw it back at him constantly now. Hau’s jealousy is never ending every time you call Hala an ‘old fuck’ or an ‘old creep.’ In regards to Clifford, he listens to you fairly well at this point, to your surprise. When compared to training dogs in real life, teaching pokemon to listen to you is relatively easy. Dog training takes months, while training pokemon to listen takes maybe a week, tops. Far more difficult than instructing pokemon, you figured out quickly, is helping them discover new moves. Despite how easy the game, anime, and manga make it look, teaching pokemon how to use their powers is quite the process. 

 

For example, while Clifford is fully capable of performing Flare Blitz, he struggles with the aspect of covering himself in flame. Most of the time, he just rushes at the opponent while fire flies off to one side of him, as opposed to covering his whole body. So what you had to do was teach him to keep his head perfectly straight while he runs towards his target. On the other hand, after fighting Hala’s Hariyama, he picked up Close Combat extremely easily. Each time Clifford uses it, he kicks his legs in such a precise manner that you could compare it to watching a kick-boxer in the ring. 

 

You also had the pleasure of being given one of the starter pokemon on your first day of training. They were all released from their balls and were playing together while you were deciding. Each one of them came up to you at separate times. It was clear that the little female Litten was the cuddliest, and you loved that about her. She reminded you of your cats at home, and that almost made you cry. Rowlet on the other hand waddled up and pecked your hand. Obviously it hurt and all, but you were weirded out when it flew at you, trying to tear you apart while making a sound that was a combination of a ‘purr’ and ‘coo.’ After that, you were fairly certain that the little fellow was sadistic. Then there was the female Popplio. She was the last to approach you, and you didn’t even realize she came over until she tapped your arm, very gently. You smiled at her and pet her head. She gave you a good smile, but never made a sound. After much deliberation and conversation, you decided on the Popplio. Popplio is very different from Arcanine in many ways. From her demeanor, which is simultaneously elegant and delicate, to her communication skills. When she grows hungry, she never makes a noise or even begs. What she does instead is touch you somewhere in an attempt to receive your audience. Uncertainty describes how you feel about your relationship with her. She never truly shows you her adoration, but she never rebels against your commands.

 

After the first two weeks of training, Popplio has slowly opened up to you. Now, she rubs up against your leg anytime she needs something, and she’s acquired a habit of leading you to water. Not like being in the water is a problem for you, but Clifford normally grows jealous when you go swimming with your new friend. To celebrate Popplio learning a few new moves, you decided to take her to a beach that Hau told you about. From what you gathered, it’s somewhere near the top of Melemele island and is very secluded. You figured that would be the perfect place for Popplio, considering how she struggles to get along with other pokemon. You make your way to the beach and release your friends from their pokeballs. Although you’ve been to the beach many times these past few weeks, you haven’t really had a moment to relax since the day you got your Rotomdex from Professor Kukui. Today is a special day for you because of that fact. So, to reward yourself for all your hard work, you’ve decided to just lay back and relax.

 

The location is absolutely desolate, but it’s worth the trip. There’s a bluff that bulges out and points over to Akala island on the north side of the small beach. If you put some fencing around it and cleared a path, the cliff would be a beautiful spot to look out at the ocean. Alas, there is far too much foliage to trudge through to get to the peak though, and you’re pretty sure that it’s illegal to tear down any more of the forest. On the other side of the beachfront is a cliff that’s a little closer to the water, although it still stands about 20 feet above the waterline. You had to climb down a rocky path in order to get down to this place, and you scratched your knee in the process. Luckily, you always carry bandages with you just in case something like this happens. Oddly enough, the hospital you stayed at hassled you about your form of identification, since you hadn’t registered your Rotomdex until that point. Thankfully, Nurse Joy was very kind and assisted you in the process of creating your ID.

 

Moving on, once you determine the perfect spot, you pull from your white bag your blue towel with white outlines of Seaking. While doing so, you notice the phone that Hala had given back to you a few weeks ago buried under it. Your mind begins to wonder what’s on it, and if it even works still. Only now do you realize that you have had no interest in unearthing your past. Despite how important it is, you even avoided talking about it with everyone around. Trying to make excuses, you tell yourself that you’ve been busy adapting to this new world around you, but you can’t help but think,  _ “should I be trying to adapt? Or should I be trying to go back? I don’t even remember what I really have to go back to.”  _ You push those thoughts aside for a moment and set up your space for relaxing. Spreading out your towel, you put up a big multicolored umbrella right above it. In addition to the towel, you also brought a chair to lounge in which you set up right next to it. You set your bag down on the towel and sit your butt into that lounge chair. There’s a nice breeze today that keeps you at the perfect temperature when in the shade. The sun on the other hand puts you a little on the hotter side. After you’re all settled, you reach for your bag to grab a book that Hala assigned you to read. Since you don’t remember everything about this universe, you were assigned a novel called,  _ History and Lore of Pokemon. _ Opening your satchel, you peer inside in search of the book, but instead of grabbing the book, your hand grabs hold of the phone.

 

“I wonder…” you mumble to yourself. While holding down a button on the side of the phone, you wait to see if it will even turn on. Looking at it more thoroughly, the cracks are not too bad, but you never know how the phone will work unless you turn it on. You doubt it has any battery left to even turn on, so you’re not expecting much. After a few seconds though, the phone flashes some light. To your surprise, the cracks didn’t affect the screen underneath it and it turns white, while showing a symbol for your carrier. You wait some more while it slowly but surely transitions from the start up screen to your home screen which is a picture of you and your best friend at a new year’s eve party. There’s a lock on it with a pattern that you can not remember. Winging it works though, and your drawing of a box using the nine dots gets you into the phone. You look to the upper right hand corner and it tells you two things. One, you have no service but that’s obvious. Two, you have 5% battery. You know that there are no chargers for your phone in this universe, so you have to make use of what little battery is left. You start off by going to your gallery. There, you attempt to look at your images. 

 

“Holy fuck,” you say as the first picture that loads is actually the original picture from your world. It’s an image of you and your mother at home, celebrating your cat’s 15th birthday. His fluffy butt is in the picture too, and he looks mad as hell in between you and your mother. You laugh at the visible hatred he’s omitting. You stare at the picture for a while, taking in the situation. What you know is that you currently look like a two dimensional character from the pokemon game, but the pictures on your phone are very clearly of an entirely different world. A world with  _ depth. _ Whether it be a far larger array of colors, or a smile with wrinkles, it quite simply looks more  _ realistic _ to you. Back to the picture, your mother looks just the way you remember her, although it’s hard to forget because you’re practically a clone of her in appearance. Painful throbbing ensues in your temple as memories of your family come back to you. There are so many of them, but the most prevalent ones cause a pain in your heart that scares you into thinking you’re having a heart attack. Closing your eyes, you recall memories of you arguing with your mother over the most mundane of subjects. Whether it be over food or school, you had the tendency to overreact. Hurtful words were spat from your hissing mouth, each one filled with more and more regret. Shaking your head to avoid these memories, you scroll down further. 

 

Finding your way to a string of images which you assume are from a specific event, you realize they all take place in the woods. Enlarged, one image strikes you more than any of the others. Reason being, it’s a picture of you and your best friend. Here, she has long black hair tied up in a messy ponytail. A smile fills brims from cheek to cheek, and she has an arm wrapped around your shoulder with her other giving the camera a thumbs up. You on the other hand are smiling shyly, looking at the camera and waving with one hand, the other wrapped around her waist. Behind you is a vast canyon of emerald green trees and brush, overlaid with a gradient of gold and red. Crashing down onto your skull like an avalanche, you begin to see flashes of moments from that excursion. It is just the two of you on a midsummer day. Both of you agreed that a trip to the mountains is in order, so you travel a few hours away to a gorge in your state which you had heard of, but never been to. Driving there is joyous. Whenever you grow hungry, either you or your pale, dark haired friend look around for a small diner. Passing through a small country town, you stop at a building with a neon flashing sign that flickers the word, “Diner.” Morning light gleams against the wall of greens in the distance. Golden, you admire the beauty that is this moment. Pavement beneath you, crisp air filling your lungs, this is the first time you’ve felt alive and  _ free. _ Shouting comes from behind you, so you turn and head inside. The diner is vintage, as if civilization’s grasp has yet to enlighten it that you’re not back in the 70’s. Even then, you can’t help but enjoy the fact that you’re practically on the set of Grease. Your friend is dragging you to a booth, excitedly rambling on about how retro this place is, and how she wishes they had a jukebox. In a rush, your waitress approaches and asks what you want to drink. She’s short with curly red hair and the whitest skin you’ve ever seen. Obviously she’s irish. After ordering a water for yourself, your friend demands a glass of Coke. Chatting endlessly, your friend discusses her excitement about this trip with you and you listen quietly, nodding. Despite how much she’s speaking, you can’t help but look out the window at the mountain covered in lush greens that glow gold and red from the sunlight. Suddenly, the mountain begins spinning around you. Dizziness sets in, but it disappears when you come to a halt at the edge of a cliff. Before you are light brown, wooden fences following the edge. Shaking one of them, it almost falls forward into the canyon of green before you. Looking down, you realize that you’re about a thousand feet above the bottom of the curved gorge. From behind you, you feel someone shaking your shoulders around. Immediately you turn and face your friend. Smiling, she says something to you. Laughter follows and she suddenly pulls out a small, rectangular camera. Walking up to a total stranger, she asks them to take your picture. Pulling out your phone, you ask them to do the same with your phone. Kind enough, they do as you ask and then hand back your devices. Comparing pictures, you and your friend laugh as you realize that clearly, her camera captures moments far better. After that picture, she grabs your hand and walks back, still in front of the cliff. She begins to run towards it with you, and she jumps over the edge. Screaming at the top of your lungs, you look down and the world below your feet disperses into darkness. The moment your feet touch the ground though, the world below you glows and you are surrounded by the woods. Directly in front of you stands long, thin rocks which protrude from the side of the earth. Further down are large, thin rocks that stick out even further. At the bottom of the rocks is one last rock, which jut out the furthest. Gracefully flowing down them is a quiet, gentle stream which falls into a small pond full of large, thick, grey stones. Beside where the water flows are patches of lustrous green moss and small, leafy shrubs. To your right and left is a vast expanse of never ending spruce, pine, and oak trees. Alone now, you decide to walk onto the lowest rock of the waterfall. It’s dry aside from where the stream flows. You take a seat and look out, observing the woods before you. Quiet, gentle, but breezy. Closing your eyes, you observe everything without your sight. Slight scents of distant flowers touch you although aside from that, the air just smells clean. As it brushes against your face, you feel a chill zip down your back. Not hot, but not cold either, the day is very decent but especially so when in the shade. Covering your eyes, a pair of unknown hands slide onto your face. Words are spoken, her soft voice caresses your eardrums alongside the sound of birds chirping. Peaceful, everything makes sense. Even the soft pair of lips touching yours feel serene here. Wait… What? Eyes opening again, your friend is sitting next to you, taking a selfie using your phone. Red as a tomato, you can’t help but blush after what she just did. When asked though, she playfully denies it. 

 

Blinking once brings you back to reality and you feel a deep aching in your heart to go back to that moment. A sense of wholeness overwhelmed your body for only that one time. You miss that calm, freeing moment. Trying to shake off your sadness, you scroll down even further. Most of the images are of you and your friends and family. Although, you notice that there’s not a single image of a father figure. Curiosity strikes you the moment you think about that further. While mid thought, everything comes to a screeching halt when you find an insane image among your camera folder. A backdrop of hot pink sand and mountains of glittery purples and blues, it’s almost as if you’re on another planet here. Most bizarre of all is that you and a being with lavender skin and deep navy blue eyes are staring straight on at the camera. Seemingly female, the being has it’s arm wrapped around your shoulder and wears a massive grin. Long, light pink hair flows from her head and forms two meticulously crafted braids with golden flowers tied in every inch or so. Her face is beautifully smooth and shimmers like satin. Even though you can only see from her chest up, you can tell she’s adorned in a modern style deep purple, velvet dress with a strap that only goes around her right shoulder. On the other hand, you are adorned in what seems to be a basic black jersey and a loose, white tank top which is transparent enough to show the design of your floral patterned bra. You can’t help but be mesmerized by this image. Questions arise in unimaginable numbers and you have answers to none of them. Not only can you not recall any memories of this instance, but there are no other images to provide further information. “ _ Who is that alien woman? Where was I? What was I doing there?” _

 

Mind about to burst, you decide it’s about time to stop. If you continue searching through the rest of your images, you may hurt your poor brain. Once calm enough, you exit from the gallery screen. Looking to the top right corner, you take note of the fact that your battery life has decreased to four percent. You don’t have much time left on your phone, and you have to make the most of it. Obviously, you think, the best thing to open up next would be your messenger app and hence you tap it. Up pops a grey screen with pictures that have names to the right. For some reason, it starts you off at the bottom where the oldest text messages are. You scroll up and you start to see your friends names and your last texts from them. At some point, you see the name  _ Mel _ and you remember that she was your best friend, the one who went with you on adventures and was in so many of your pictures. Trudging through these tough emotions, you open up the conversation and read through the day you last spoke before disappearing. Dated before the first text of the day as  _ February 3 2XXX _ .

 

9:21 am “Yo girlie, whatcha up to?”

9:55 am “Omg Mel how can u even be up this early?? I’m like dying.”

9:56 am “Ur such a pussy.”

10:00 am “bitch shut tf up, I was up till like 3 last night thanks to /him/”

10:01 am “...”

10:01 am “why are you still talking to him…?”

10:10 am “I have 2…”

10:11 am “WHAT!!??? NO U DON’T BITCH”

10:11 am “U HAVE 2 GET AWAY FROM HIM AND THAT FUCKIN COMPANY”

10:11 am “SPEARS OR WHATEVER”

10:30 am “Mel, chill.”

10:35 am “NO, DONT TELL ME 2 CHILL WHEN UR GOING OUT DOING DANGEROUS SHIT W/ SOME DOUCHEBAG”

10:36 am “I’m a diplomat. What do you expect?”

10:37 am “WHAT DUZ THAT EVN MEAN?!?!?!?!”

10:38 am “I can’t explain okay… You already know way too much”

10:45 am “you havnt been the same since last year. What happened to you?”

10:50 am “I… I haven’t changed.”

10:57 am “:’( u dont even know how much u’ve changed.”

11:02 am “:’((( Don’t say that.”

11:40 am “What do you want me to do then? Sit here and listen to you tell me that you haven’t changed when you clearly have lost a part of you since you joined Spero? My best friend can’t go off on adventures anymore because you’re always on call for that stupid thing. You once told me that you wanted to be free, but now you’re more chained down than I’ve ever seen before. When was the last time you actually left the house to go to the woods? You never hike anymore, you don’t play video games with me, you don’t even leave the house except when you have to go to fucking work. You used to be fun and go out dancing with me, but I doubt we could do that again.”

12:00 pm “I’m sorry you feel that way. I don’t feel like I’ve changed. I feel like the same person I was last year when we went to the gorge.”

5:39 pm “I’m out at our fav bar, will u come and talk to me?”

5:44 pm “Sry, working.”

5:49 pm “obvi when tf arent u”

7:23 pm “what is up your ass, mel?”

7:25 pm “I miss my best friend. I miss you. Please come back to me…”

7:30 pm “Plz stop :’( don’t make me feel bad. I have to work.”

7:35 pm “I’m gonna make you feel bad! I’m here alone at a stupid fucking bar getting hit on by a bunch of douchebags all cuz u cant follow ur fuckin’ dreams!”

7:35 pm “u should feel bad bc u nvr visit me or talk to me over the phone. It’s like i dont even kno u anymore”

7:36 pm “plz, bae, come back to me.”

7:41 pm “I hate this fucking job, Mel. I hate it. I didn’t want to do it in the first place. It hurts me after every experiment. My body is constantly in pain and all I want to do is fucking disappear. Some day, something is going to go horribly wrong and I’m gonna either die or vanish and my life will have been fucking pointless. I can’t pursue my dreams. I just can’t because all my future holds is other people’s decisions... “

8:04 pm “r u thrtnin to kill urself????”

8:05 pm “no… sorry… ignore what I just said.”

8:05 pm “plz promise me ur safe. I’m so worried bout u :’’’’(“

8:06 pm “im safe dw”

11:16 pm “i rlly luv u, so plz don’t evr leave me ok?”

 

You wipe away the tears that followed, and look at the corner to check your battery. It’s at three percent now. You try to move a little more quickly, so you continue scrolling up and reach your conversation between you and your mother. You tap on the conversation and scroll up to when the date of the last conversation appears. For some bizarre reason, the date is written as  _ February 4 2XXX. _

 

4:50 pm “Hey there sweetie! I know you’re at school, but I wanted to let you know that I got you some ice cream!”

4:50 pm “It’s your favorite kind! You’ve been working so hard I thought that you deserved a little treat!”

4:51 pm “:)”

6:03 pm “That’s awesome! Thanks mom!!!!”

6:36 pm “Oh I forgot to tell you, but I’m not going to be home till pretty late tonight. I’m gonna see that band I’ve told you about with a friend of mine.”

6:40 pm “A new friend?”

7:00 pm “The concert’s gonna start soon. I love you mom”

7:02 pm “Stay safe, have fun, and let me know when you’re on your way home! You know I worry when you don’t tell me things… I love you too!”

11:34 pm “I’m gonna go out for a couple drinks with my friend, so I’ll be home really late. I have a key and everything.”

11:35 pm “Thanks for the heads up!”

 

Thinking back, you have no idea who you went to the concert with. You vividly remember the band because they’re one of your guilty pleasures. They’re not too popular, so the venue was a small, dinky bar but they were phenomenal live. Looking back, you wish you could have spoken to the singer and asked how he got into shoegaze. Leaving early, you went outside and bummed a smoke off of… someone… some guy. Who was he...? Suddenly, the conversation starts to come back to you. The guys voice was soft, but still gruff.

 

“I know you’ve already done a lot for us, but we need you to do this one more time.”

 

“So that’s why you brought me here, then?”

 

“Well, sort of. Business was part of it.”

 

“Seems like the biggest part,” tense silence fills the air after you say this. A few drags are taken from your cigarettes. You kick your left foot around.

 

“Does it bother you?”

 

“My feelings don’t matter.”

 

“Well… maybe they do to me.”

 

“Yeah but the big guy at the top doesn’t give a shit about me. He never has. Never will… Neither did his fucking brother.”

 

“I know you’re angry, but… Please. Before we head over, can you just… talk to me like you did before?”

 

“How can I? I don’t trust you, or anyone at Spero for that matter.”

 

“This is the last time.”

 

“That’s what you say after every single fucking experiment, but here you are asking me for one last time.”

 

“I… I told him that I’m leaving after this.”

 

Ashes fly into the air as your cigarette hids the ground. Whatever was burning is now cooled on the ground.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I can’t handle this work anymore. I… I hate watching what it does to you. You’re not the same person I met three months ago. We can both leave tomorrow after this one. I bought a house with the money I’ve received from Spero. I paid in cash and the deed is in my friend’s name. They won’t be able to find us and use you. You just have to trust me this one time.”

 

“What? Do you think I’ll just up and leave with you because you finally grew a pair? Because you decided now is the best time to actually care about me and my well being? Fuck yourself! Fuck your attitude that you’re my knight in shining armor. Fuck you for presenting everything as though I had a god damn choice.”

 

“Please. I’m sorry for the past but I won’t let them hurt you again. You deserve to be happy, not...not this.”

 

“You’re damn right I don’t deserve this. But tha-ah!” your head starts to spin and you smack your hand against the wall to keep yourself up.

 

“I… I hate you. You’re telling me a… about trust…. B… but….. My drink…. you…”

After that, everything becomes a blur. Questions fill your head, but the biggest one you have is  _ who is that guy? _ What did he do to you? How does he relate to this Spero? You peer over to your phone. Only one percent left. Scrolling up to the most recent conversation, you look at the last text message you sent in your world. It’s to your father, who is labelled  _ Dad…? _

 

11:59 pm “I wish you’d just fucking disappear.”

 

Your hands find their way up to your mouth, and your begin sobbing to yourself. In the fold out beach chair you’ve been sitting in. You feel a vibration and your phone dies. You throw it at the sand in front of you. 

 

“What’s wrong with me?!” You scream as your eyes continue pouring down tears. Regret hasn’t touched your heart since before you came to this strange land. After so long, you almost forgot how much a heart could hurt, but you didn’t even get to see what led up to that. You didn’t get to see why you said something so mean to someone you love. How could you say that to your own father? Popplio nudges at your feet and some of the water that was on Popplio drips onto your toes. Your sobbing only intensifies as you cling to what little you have left of your father. It’s in your memories and you can not go back.

 

“Popplio…” your friend coos at you for the very first time as it hops into your lap and nuzzles against you. Your hands caress her head and pet her while you continue crying uncontrollably. 

 

“Why would I say that to dad?” asking a pokemon that hardly speaks in the first place is not going to get you far, you realize. Arcanine, who had actually been free the whole time comes running up from behind you. He comes to a slow stop and trots to your side where he licks your face. One of Popplio’s wet paws lift up off of you and she seems to make some sort of motions to Clifford. Clifford walks away, fusses with something in the sand and returns to lay down on the beach towel you have beside you. He places whatever it was he had gone out for on the towel. When you’re sobbing finally eases, you wipe away some of the tears and look over at Clifford and try to figure out what he was messing with. He had gone out and got your phone back for you. 

 

“You guys are the best. You really are the best,” You wheeze out as you try to breath and regain your composure. Five minutes or so later, you’re finally done bawling your eyes out and you have your emotions under control. Now that you’re not a complete mess, your pokemon seem calmer too. Popplio has fallen asleep on your lap, and Clifford has found comfort beneath the umbrella on top of your towel. You lift up Popplio as gently as possibly while you attempt to get up out of the chair, and you set her down in your spot on the chair. Both of them resting peacefully puts your heart at ease. Swimming sounds appealing to you at the moment. Perhaps a good swim will distract you from the fact that you are possibly the worst daughter in the world. You take off the lavender sundress you have on to reveal a fire truck red, one piece, strapless swimsuit. You set your sundress down on your bag, which Clifford is surprisingly not laying on. Light brown flip flops slip off easily and you push them under the folding chair with your right foot. Ready to swim, you walk over to the water and take a few steps in. It’s cool and refreshing to feel it wash over you. It contrasts well against the heat of the sun your skin is absorbing. Quietly you stand there. Under your sun hat is your face and parts of your shoulder. Everywhere else is free to be burnt by the scorching sun rays. Feeling your skin burn puts you at ease in a way. Remembering that you are real, that you can experience pain, is relieving. Originally, you wanted to swim, but standing only heel deep feels nice. Deciding now, you take a seat on the sand covered by the slowly rising tide while the water run up against your hip. Looking down to your left you see a small Pyukumuku gazing upon you from the shallow water. Meeting gazes, neither of you move or take action. Eventually, the pokemon is swept onto the shore by the current, and you’re left alone once more. Humid, salty air fills you up. Relaxing causes you pleasure similar to surreality. All you have right now is this moment and memories to reflect upon.

 

As if out of nowhere, you hear Arcanine barking. Shrieking, a young girl seems to be running towards you and the water, terrified. Gazing back, you notice a shorter pale girl wearing an entirely white outfit. From her white, floppy sun hat to her beautiful white dress with a skirt beneath made of a transparent, thin material. Even her knee high, white socks fall into light baby blue shoes which border on being white as well. Similar to her generally lighter appearance, her blonde hair matches her. Long hair in the back, short bangs, and two braids that lay on the front of her body. Poor girl, she’s running from Clifford who just wants to tackle her for some of that good old TLC. After a minute or so of her running around the beach ignorant of your presence, you whistle and wave for your big fluffy buddy to come over. Like the good boy he is, he romps towards you, splashing water all over you. Chuckling, your hand slides to his muzzle giving it a good scratch, then it meanders down to under his chin for good scratches. Finally, you decide to acknowledge the elephant in the room. 

 

“Hi there,” deciding to go with a simple greeting, you start off your introduction as such, “I’m sorry Clifford basically attacked you! He’s harmless though. Unless you try to hurt me, then he gets mean. Hahahaha!”

 

Fear strikes her face at the last part and she takes some steps back, “U-uhm…”

 

“You’re Lillie, right?” you ask. Recalling the game, you remember her name and who she is. Daughter of Lusamine and Mohn, brother to Gladion. Of course, she has no idea who you are. It would also be weird if you stated everything you know about her, so just asking her name seems reasonable.

 

“Y-yeah! How do you know my name?” 

 

“I’m training under Hala… and living with him. I think either him or Professor Kukui may have mentioned you in our discussions.”

 

“You know the Professor?”

 

“Well, he did give me a Rotomdex.”

 

“Oh! I see!” 

 

Silence. Unsure of what to discuss with her, you decide to ask her a question, “So, uh. How did you find this place?”

 

“Hau told me about it last time I spoke with him. He said it’s very quiet and not a lot of people come here aside from him and Hala.”

 

“He told me the same thing, haha! I guess you were just unlucky to find me here today.”

 

“Well, I wouldn’t say unlucky!” her positivity is very refreshing. Sounds of sand shifting from behind you start as she seems to be walking towards you.

 

“Did you come to the beach to relax I assume?”

 

“I thought maybe a quiet beach day would be nice!”

 

“Quiet isn’t something too common here, I noticed,” closing your eyes, both of you stand silent to listen to the crashing waves as they smash against the cliff. Rolling in further, noises of the water that makes up the tide take place behind you. Peaceful is one word to describe the moment. Seemingly on similar wavelengths, you appreciate Lillie’s calm presence. 

 

“Do you care if I set up my stuff beside yours?”

 

“Not at all. Actually, if you want, you can just use my chair if you’d like to sit down under the umbrella. Just move Popplio.”

 

“Oh! I’d rather not disturb your pokemon… or touch them…”

 

“Do you dislike pokemon?”

 

“No! I adore them, actually! I just… I have a fear of touching them and being near them…”

 

“I see,” allowing silence to wash over once more, you’re engulfed by the scenery, sounds, smells, tastes, and senses against your skin. In addition to the noises of the ocean, you hear Lillie rustling around behind you, struggling to set up a chair. Also included is the quiet murmuring of Lillie telling Nebby to get into the bag. That induces some chuckles from you as you remember the pokemon game she’s from where she constantly said that. Everyone from your world on the internet made jokes regarding her statement. Hearing her actually say it in person is surreal. After she gets herself settled in, you hear her finally ask you a valid question.

 

“What was your name?”

 

“I haven’t a clue.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I’ll preface with this. My circumstances are peculiar, but they’ve led to my memory being rather scattered… I guess my name is like a needle in a haystack of unfortunate events that I don’t want to dig through because hay is fucking prickly.”

 

She struggles for a moment to reply. Words seem to elude her, until she finally seems to clarify her thoughts, “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what it would be like to not know my own name.”

 

“Actually, I’ve been thinking of it as a time to discover who I really am as a person. Preexisting conceptions of myself have been thrown out the door, so my true colors seem to be creating a new version of me. I have to look further into my past, but I don’t know if I like who I once was, or who I was becoming. Maybe it’s better that I’m here. I can’t hurt the people I loved anymore… Uh, sorry… before you came I was able to catch a glimpse of who I once was and I need to do a lot of thinking. If I can delve further into my broken memories, maybe I can just figure out how I got here, or who I feel some deep rooted, hidden anger for.”

 

“That’s a lot to process.”

 

“Yeah… So I guess my name isn’t really on the docket, ya know? If I find it in there, then cool. But until then, I think I’m fine without one. Even my identification doesn’t have a name on it because I’d like to discover what name suits me.”

 

Suddenly, Lillie’s bag begins to rustle behind you and you hear Nebby fly out. Zipping up next to you, it dances around you, waving it’s little plumes of energy it calls arms. Smiling, it reminds you of an innocent child. While lifting your hand out of the water, you watch droplets fall back into the ocean from whence they came. Then, your hand finds it’s way to Nebby’s head. Positive response follows in the form of chipper noises and nuzzling against your hand. As though nothing was there, your hand falls through it’s outer layer of energy and lands on the core. In response, it practically purrs and rubs against you further. 

 

“Nebby! What are you doing bothering her?” Lillie runs into the water with her socks and shoes off. She reaches for Nebby, but in response it playfully flies to the other side of you.

 

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt a pokemon. I respect every single one far too much to hurt them. Nebby is really cute too. Way cuter in person,” you state this, but neglect to realize that you just gave away the fact that you were already aware of this pokemon. Sharp as a fiddle, Lillie recognizes this.

 

“What do you mean…?” She reaches for Nebby and pulls it close to her chest, defensively.

 

“Well, how much crazy are you willing to believe?”

 

“I won’t know unless you tell me.”

 

“You’re not wrong. I guess I’ll start by saying this… I’m from an entirely different dimension. The concept of this universe being real blows my mind. Where I’m from, everything here, including you and everyone else here, are just part of popular video game. There’s a very long line of different versions of the game, each one taking place in different regions with new pokemon and characters. Irregardless, my world is entirely different and lacks pokemon and compassion.”

 

“I… I see.”

 

“Do you believe me?”

 

“To be honest, what your saying does sound absurd, but with my mother’s work, I do believe in alternate dimensions.”

 

“I don’t know how I got here, but based on a conversation I had with someone before I came here, I know that I was a diplomat of some kind. I also seemed to have worked for a corporation called Spero. I doubt you’ve heard of it.”

 

“I have not.”

 

“From what I recall and based on the power of deduction, I can only assume that my work had something to do with alternate dimensions. I would like to look further into it, but I’m scared.”

 

“Why are you scared?”

 

“I’m terrified of what I’ll find. Deep down, I have this gut feeling that if I look for answers, none of them will make me happy.”

 

“Then why would you look for answers?”

 

“Because when I lay awake early in the morning, I struggle to fall asleep. My dreams show me flashes of the past but when I wake up I don’t remember any of them. I always wake up covered in sweat and tears, and sometimes Hala has to come in and check on me. If I find answers, maybe I won’t be haunted by the past, maybe I’ll receive some sort of closure.”

 

“This sounds really hard and I’m sorry you’re going through this. Nobody deserves to be unhappy… I wish everyone could just treat one another with love and respect.”

 

“I think that goal is within reach for you, Lillie.”

 

“No! I don’t think that people can do that…”

 

“You say that, but you have no idea how wonderful the people of this universe are. Sure, some people are hurt, but at least most of them can change. I come from a world where the vast majority have no interest in trying to change. People hurt one another and drop them from their lives like flies. Everyone here… Everyone has a chance at being truly happy because hatred is few and far between as opposed to the majority. All you have to do is focus on the few who struggle to be kind.”

 

“How could I ever help those sorts of people? I don’t… I don’t know if I want to either. I have to focus on helping Nebby first!”

 

“All you have to do is be yourself. I can tell you’re a good person and good people have the ability to help others.”

 

“I-I-I don’t know if I deserve that much praise from a stranger!”

 

“It’s okay. You deserve praise for listening to me ramble on. Thank you for hearing me out, even though I’m just a weird stranger,” the water rushes over your stomach. You’ve been in the water for so long that the tide has risen. This first interaction with Lillie goes on for a while longer. As the sun sets, you pack your things and head home. New friend by your side, you part ways as you head for Hala’s and she to Kukui’s. She is a valuable asset, and a good new friend, even if she doesn’t seem to understand your pain.


	4. A Little Goes a Long Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took me forever to update!!! I tried to finish this chapter before my camping trip, but uh.... I had to rewrite a whole lotta crap. I wasn't happy with the way this chapter started off and I'll be posting another chapter in the next couple of days or as soon as I'm content with the way it flows.... :S HMMMMMMMMM..... Anyways! I hope you all enjoy this! If you notice any grammatical errors, let me know. I hope the long wait was worth it for those who really like my story!!! c:

 

Time has been blowing by while you grow and learn. You’re actually not fairly certain how long it’s been, but if you really wanted to know then you’d ask nurse Joy. Nurse Joy has been an awesome friend to you through this adventure. She listened to you when Hala defeated your pokemon five times in a row. He was a really tough Kahuna to battle, but every battle taught you a little more. When you finally beat him, you ran to nurse Joy. Excitedly, you shared with her all the minute details of the battle. As a reward for your hard work, she decided that from now on, she would send you gifts after major battles. Now, you make your way over to the nearest pokemon center to discover a delivery person holding a package for you. Explanations are in order for how the postal workers know exactly where you are to give you stuff. Moving on, you’ve gotten acquainted with more people that you remember from the games. Trial captains included, each one has become very dear to you. They’re exceptionally compassionate to you, and have given you many things to help you in the future, including the Z-Crystals. Once you left Melemele island IIima began sending you different kinds of Pokèballs all the time. Every package was neatly wrapped by him supposedly, and he always left you a note with an inspirational quote on it. He’s become a brother to you and you really admire his big heart. 

 

Before you went to Akala island, Hala gave you a ride pager and taught you how to call Tauros, just like in the game. Similarly, each of the captains on Akala taught you how to summon Stoutland, Lapras, and Charizard. It was odd how the whole thing worked in person. You tap the pokemon you want to call and then a pokeball practically appears out of thin air in the pager. Then, you take the pokeball and throw it out, releasing your ride pokemon. While teaching you about Stoutland, you picked up some hints that Mallow has a crush on you. It was pretty obvious from the time that she sat behind you while you ventured through the jungle. Not so discreetly, she wrapped her arms around your waist and nestled her nose into your shoulder. She’s actually really cute when she has a crush. Slightly awkward, you had to decline her because she is far too young. You also don’t believe you could handle any sort of romance for the time being considering your circumstances. Moving on, you discovered that Lapras can actually ride you all over the place, even from island to island. Lana was an incredible teacher despite her age. Unbeknownst you, Lapras are actually rather testy and can be incredibly difficult to handle. Then there was the farm. Kiawe was brief and hard to talk to when you first met, but after an incident where you both got trapped in a cave (which you’d rather not talk about because you know that the cave in was entirely your fault), you’ve become pretty good friends. Reluctantly, he taught you about Charizards, which most of them had a tendency of liking you. Charizard has become your most used ride, since you don’t really want to spend money on a motel or a hotel. No, not when you have a free place to stay at Hala’s. 

 

Speaking of, with money you receive from Hala, you can’t help but go shopping in every town. Each time you buy new clothes though, you have to go back to Hala’s place because you tend to buy at least two bags worth. Typically, you just drop the clothes off in your room and hurriedly head off to continue your adventure. When you come back again, they are never where you tossed them, but rather hung up neatly in your closet or folded in your drawers. After speaking with Hala, he explained that messy rooms bother him, although he would never force you to change to better suit his own odd quirks. If this were a game, he would probably have gained respect points for that. But there was that one time that you bought some new underwear... They were so cute you just couldn’t resist. They all have beautifully embroidered images of pokemon all over them. Five total, you recount the pokemon on each pair. One was silky deep blue in appearance with a Popplio on each side and two that touched their noses in the middle of the front and back. Another pair had just a single sleeping Alolan Vulpix with a lavender color everywhere else and some lace around the edges. Alolan Meowth took refuge on the back of another pastel yellow pair as it holds what appears to be a brick of gold. Yet another pair was a light grey with a Mimikyu’s head over the crotch and another looking over it’s shoulder on your rear. The final pair is a bright pink with Gardevoir on the back. You don’t even understand how they stretch but they are the most magical things in the world, and when you slip them around your waist, your nether regions feel as though they were surrounded by plush pillows. Well, they  _ were _ amazing. Until one day you left three of the five pairs you bought out on your bed. You left to complete your trial against Mallow. When you came back, the pairs were in different places and covered in what you could only assume was anything but mayonnaise. Tears almost came out of your eyes that day, but you held them in and threw those panties out using tongs from the kitchen. Lesson learned.

 

On top of all the training and battling, you have acquired new pokemon. Of course, you’ve caught a whole lot of them that are being stored in the PC, but your team itself has been building up. In addition to Popplio, who has evolved into Brionne, you now have a Farfetch’d you call Ducky, a Wigglytuff who calls itself Puff, a Bagon you call Special Sam, and a tough Charjabug that you call Toots. Brionne finally acquired a nickname, although it’s not horribly creative because all you do is call her Bri now. So, when you go down the list you’ve got Clifford, Bri, Ducky, Puff, and Toots. All of them adore you, even your shy Brionne has really taken to you. She actually makes more noise with you than she ever did before. Clifford hasn’t changed much, he’s the same old, loveable goofball you started to adore. Ducky is rather odd, but gets along well with the rest of your group and plays the role as the leader of the group. She doesn’t actually fight, nor will she go into a pokeball. Once you accepted that fact, Ducky stayed by your side at all times. She’s very strong willed, so even when you don’t want her to watch you pee, she’s right there beside you, making sure you’re safe in unconventional, dangerous places.

 

How you even got Farfetch’d in the first place was touching. While you were walking through a part of the jungle on Akala for the first time, you hear some odd noises coming from about twenty feet away. You had been admiring the smell of the jungle, which was musty yet fruity at the same time, so hearing some noises from afar really startled you. Part of you cried out to back off, but you were scared a pokemon was injured, so you slowly approach where you hear the rustling. Your hand reaches to your bag and you grab hold of the pokeball Clifford is in. You make it about five feet away, and you’re about to push the brush to reveal what’s been rustling around, when a Ratticate jumps and attacks you. It knocks the pokeball right out of your hand and you’re stuck with this menacing creature towering over you. You vividly remember that moment because you were petrified. The only thing that came to mind was, ‘I thought Ratticate were mouse sized!’ Incredibly wrong assumption. Just as the Ratticate is about to bite your arm off, you hear something flying through the air. It goes so fast that by the time the Ratticate looks over, the leek was already six inches deep into its face. As the leek bounced back and the Ratticate stumbled away from you, Ducky came flying in with a foot  Ratticate right in the face. After she gave him a good kicking and scratching, she began to quack ferociously at the Ratticate. Ratticate peers over at the Farfetch’d, terrified, and it runs off into the brush. Once finished, Ducky looks at you and tilts her head. Out of nowhere, she jumps up and lands on top of your head. She fluffs herself up and makes herself comfortable. When you look at the brush where the Ratticate was, you noticed that there was a small marsh with odd onion looking plants growing high. Ducky hops down off your head, breaks off a stick and smacks your head lightly, then shoves it into your mouth. Taking a bite, you realize that the onion looking food tastes more like garlic on a stick of celery. It’s good, and you pat Ducky and thank her for sharing her food. Preceding your pats, she takes her place back atop your head and you leave, munching on the odd stick. Every time you think back to that incident, you laugh a little. 

 

Puff and Toots were nothing like Ducky when you first met them. Puff was very friendly, and every time you passed through route six, Puff would pop out of nowhere and give you a big old hug. You’d let out your pokemon, and they’d all sing and dance together while you fed them pokebeans and other good food you store up just for them. Puff and Ducky get along the best. You’re fairly certain that they’re best friends at this point. When you caught Puff, she went right into the ball without a fight. You’d been extremely lucky with pokemon, aside from Ducky, when it comes to getting them in pokeballs. You never liked the idea of forcing them in if they don’t even like you. You believe that this is a journey that requires kindness, understanding, and friendship. So you deeply respect every pokemon you pass by. Even pokemon that put up a fight end up giving in at the end. You believe it has something to do with the fact that you heal them and give them food after a good fight. Most of them love when you pet them afterwards, so catching them is easy when they know you’ll treat them well.

 

Despite how cute he is, Bagon is a nutcase. The first time you met, he fell from a cliffside and nearly banged your head with his. Literally, he fell head first off a cliffside on Route 3 while you were heading for your favorite secluded beach. Of course, with how hard he hit the ground, he left a massive dent and even killed any plants that were once under him. Taken by surprise, you stumbled backwards, nearly falling. After a few seconds, he wiggles his little feet and jumps out of the hole he burried his head in. Turning to you, he puffs air out of his nose, as if asking for a fight. Reaching for your pokeballs, you almost pull out Clifford but suddenly your good pal Ducky jumps out and whips her leek at Bagon’s squishy little muscular face. He falls backwards and presumably passes out. When you go near him and try to touch him though, he flails and smacks your hand away. Sighing, you pull out a potion and heal all his wounds. Once better, you begin to walk away thinking that you’ve done the right thing letting that little psycho go. Suddenly, a small pebble smacks the back of your head and you turn back to him. He’s kicking his feet again, as if he’s about to run at you head first. Before you know it, the crazy little critter is actually coming at you. Ducky comes in to the save the day once more by grabbing his tiny head with her right talon and then whipping him at the mountain side. Healing him once more, you hope that this was enough for his spunky little behind and you attempt to walk away. Again, another damn pebble and the process repeats until dawn. The little stinker fights Ducky until she’s shaking. She’s exhausted but won’t give up because she’s resilient and hardy. Bagon runs at you for the last time, moving swiftly this time and evading Ducky’s swing with her leek. He charges you and you step back until your back his the rocky cliff behind you. Out of nowhere, Bagon suddenly comes screeching to a halt and ends his whole charade by walking up to your foot and giving you a hug with his tiny little arms. Your heart aches and you pick him up and hold him tight. Snoring ever so quietly, you put him in a pokeball, release him back into your arms, and head home with a new, rambunctious friend.

 

Now Toots was a jerk at first. Never in a million years did you think he’d join your party because every time you met him in the wild, he would charge at you with some of his other Grubbin friends. They would string shot you, which did practically nothing except tickle you. Laughter probably angered him and his buddies more, so most experiences you had with him were hostile, and you left him alone after giving him beans. Then one day his friends turned on him for some reason and you happened to be there. While walking through some tall grass, you happened upon a fight where there were approximately 15 grubbins ganging up on him. Farfetch’d was with you at the time, and seemed like she was trying to translate, but it wasn’t working. So she just stood and watched on your head with you as the pokemon seemed to chatter back and forth for a while. Apparently something was said to the bigger group of Grubbins and they all got angry and lunged at him. As they leapt forward, your body instinctively went with them, and you covered Toots with your whole body. Sure you got scratched up, but Ducky was there and she smacked them all real good. Once you got up off of him, you realized that he was crying. You spoke very softly to him, and pet him all over. It seemed to comfort him, almost move him in a way. His little beady eyes cleared up, and he gave you a gentle pinch on your hand as you held him close. At that moment, you felt nothing but love from him, and he’s never pinched you since. He’s also evolved since then, but he’s still the same little cuddly guy to you, although he acts like a prick to everyone else.

 

With a solid team together, you defeated the first three trial captains, and made your way through most of the island. Everything was going smoothly, and today’s the day that you decided you’re going to face the Kahuna, Olivia. You’re actually rather far away from her thanks to some nonsense that’s dragged you all over the place. Dexio and Sina have been asking you to do all sorts of small tasks for them that they never asked the character in the game to do. Although odd, it still made sense in the end when they asked you to hunt for black rocks. When you asked them why, they explained to you that they have obsidian in their world and that they were certain that it was something found in every universe. Bizarre, but actually they weren’t wrong that there’s obsidian in your world. They also helped you hunt down enough Zygarde pieces to actually create one. You’d think it smells synthetic, but you remember when it came out of the tubes it was created in, it smelled like the beach. It made gurgling noises constantly though which freaked you out and you decided to hold off on making Zygarde until you have all the pieces and can make his 100% form. 

 

Back on topic, today is the day you’ve decided to challenge Olivia, but before you do so, you decided to go to the main city on Melemele to buy some fruit for yourself and your pokemon. Unlike when you walked to Kukui’s lab, the rest of the city is massive. You were lucky because the Hospital is rather close to the outskirts near his lab. As you dive deeper, you find yourself surrounded by tall office buildings, hotels, resorts, and a bounty of small businesses and markets. Crossing over bridges, you realize there’s a very intriguing system of canals that supply the city with clean water. At some point, you even pass by the water purifying facility. As you pass through a large market square, you find yourself in a small back alley full of dumpsters. There are two kinds of dumpsters, one for all the recyclables and the other for trash. Surprisingly, the recyclables bin is full to the brim while the regular trash has hardly anything in it. Looking inside, you find the reason for the lack of trash is thanks to a Muk that is gobbling down the last of the waste. Stepping back, you continue walking down the alleyway, which is growing darker and darker as grey clouds begin to cover the warm sun. You pass by an intersecting alleyway on the right when suddenly you’re smacked into the wall on your left. Releasing a quiet “ouch!” you look over to see what or who smacked into your so hard. Edgelord McEdgington with his blonde, spiky hair pushes against you as leverage. Suddenly, he grabs you and jumps into the recyclable dumpster, pulling you with him. Landing on a pile of cardboard, you turn to him trying to ask questions but he puts his index finger to your lips, hushing you silently. Almost out of nowhere, you suddenly hear footsteps and shouting.

 

“Gladion! Where did you go?!” the voice is smooth and bouncy, but male. The way you’d describe it is like an older Kurt from Glee.

 

“It’s okay Gladion! No one’s angry,” a softer, gentle voice says. Such a kind, motherly voice, it reminds you of nights as a child when your mother would read bedtime stories. Even though you’d be laying there crying heavily… Why did you cry every night?

 

“Don’t lie to the poor boy, his mother will probably keep him in _that_ _room_. He won’t come back unless he needs something.”

 

Overwhelmed all of a sudden, you lean your head forward and grab hold of temple. Rubbing it gently, you close your eyes while trying not to focus too much on the new throbbing that’s encompassed your entire skull. Although it hurts, you can tell that the physical pain is just a warning for the emotional turmoil you are about to experience. Tears drip down your cheeks as your eyes grow heavy and ache. Slithering down your throat to your chest, the aching finds refuge in your quick beating heart. Opening your mouth, you try to let out a cry but nothing is released aside from a quiet, hitched breath. Now, you are stuck in the middle of a frozen over lake. You have to decide whether to walk away from the skeletons that are digging their desperate bones into the thin layer of ice that separates you from them, or to finally crack the ice apart and let them out to do as they please. If you walk away, you risk them finally escaping and haunting you at a later date, but if you let them out now, they may grab hold of you and pull you into the water with them. In the end, you are faced with the burden of learning the past now or later. Deep down, your heart screams to abandon the pain and keep it under that cracking ice. Mentally, you’re unsure if you can handle what is to come. A voice whispers into your ear.

 

_ “Be brave, my child.” _

 

Bracing for impact, you hear the ice break followed by a hand grasping at your ankle. Down you go into the hole in the ice that you are only making larger. Ultimately, you have decided to face whatever is dragging you down. Turning yourself to face the skeleton, you see a man whose face is covered by a shroud of constantly shifting smoke. When he releases your foot, you fall into his arms. Warmth you haven’t felt in a while surrounds you and you close your eyes. Opening them brings you to a dark bedroom with glowing neon green stars on the ceiling. To your right is a wooden rocking chair dimly lit by a light source coming from outside the room. On your back, you feel a spring mattress and down pillows. A hand gently caresses your forehead. Looking over, you see the man with an indescribable face backing away. 

 

_ “Be brave, my child. I am sorry but this is the last time I’ll ever see you. I wish I could promise to come back, but I know that I won’t. I don’t even want to go, but I have to keep everyone safe from harm. Since this is the last time I’ll see you, I need you to remember a only two things. One is that I will always love you. No matter who or what you become, I will adore you and love all your rights and wrongs. Even your mistakes will receive all of my affections because you are perfect so long as you are you. Second, I will be proud of you no matter what. I support all your decisions so long as they make you genuinely happy. Even if they don’t bring you joy, I’m proud of you. Whoever you become will make me proud. Ah, it’s almost time for me to go… If you ever begin to fear the world around you or grow depressingly lonely, just remember that I love you no matter what. If you ever question your decisions or believe that you’ve done something terribly wrong, remember that I am proud of you no matter what. You are amazing, and I will never stop loving you so long as you remember my love. Be brave without me here, my sweet child.” _

 

In the blink of an eye, he is no longer there. In his stead is your mother who is weeping in the rocking chair. At the door you see one of your older siblings watching her as she cries. Trying to read your favorite book, she chokes up and has to shut it. You ask her why she’s crying and she has to explain to you that your father is gone, that he is never coming back. She tells you that he left without a word, and that she is lost. Contagious, her sorrow passes on to your siblings who have now entered the room and all weep around her. Tears don’t fall down your cheeks as sadness wells up in your heart because you remember what your father said. Use his love to be brave, you tell yourself. Consciousness kicks in as you feel your ethereal being land back into your physical body. Shoving against your shoulder begins and words slowly become audible as you become aware of your surroundings.

 

“Hey, are you okay, lady?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Ugh, first you get in the way of my escape, and now you can’t even tell you’re crying.”

 

“Crying…?” you reach a hand to your cheeks. Indeed, there are tears around your swollen eyes that you’ve decided to take care of and wipe away.

 

“I get what it’s like to be sad in a dumpster, but at least do it alone like everyone else.”

 

“You’re fucking rude as shit, dude.”

 

“Hey now, no need to swear.”

 

“No need to be a little edgy teenager.”

 

“I’m the rude one?”

 

“Yeah. You’re insanely rude, you little turd.”

 

“Ugh, what a gross insult.”

 

“Dude, whatever! I was just trying to find the awesome fruit stand and then you dragged me into some nasty ass dumpster and my brain just fucked in me five times in the ass without god damn lube. Give me a break!”

 

“Uh….”

 

“Sorry… I’m just… Going through a lot…”

 

“I wouldn’t have guess that.”

 

“Alright, no need for the douchey teenage sarcasm.”

 

“Hmph…”

 

“So who were the people chasing you?”

 

“Ah, some jerks from the Aether Foundation.”

 

“Hmm…” you recall that the Aether Foundation messed around with travelling through dimensions. Perhaps he may know something about Spero, “have you ever heard of a company called Spero?”

 

“Yeah… How do you even know that name?”

 

In response, you withdraw the Spero card from your bag and show him. He looks at it in awe, as if you just handed him some rare treasure, “all I know is that I have this keycard and some awful asshole landed me in this universe.”

 

“So… you’re not of this universe?”

 

“Nope. I’m from one that looks completely different and everything has… I don’t know how to say it other than depth. And more color.”

 

“I see…”

 

“I don’t remember anything about my past. I have a vague idea of who I once was, but I don’t even know my own name.”

 

“Do you know how you got here? How did you get a legendary pokemon to open a portal for you to another dimension?”

 

“I don’t know. All I remember is horrendous pain and then falling from the sky and waking up to white walls and a Chansey.”

 

“Hm…”

 

“So, would you mind telling me what you know about Spero?”

 

“Maybe… Actually, since you’re a trainer, how about this. If you beat me in a battle, then I’ll tell you everything I know.”

 

“I don’t like the idea of not learning information. How about a battle just for fun and information afterwards?”

 

“I suppose that’s fine. I’m curious how strong your pokemon are.”

 

“One more thing before we battle, what’s your name?”

 

“I thought you’d never ask. It’s Gladion.”

 

“Well Gladion, let’s have a good battle.”

 

“Psh… I doubt you’ll win.”

 

Out of the dumpster finally and distancing yourselves quite far apart, you both withdraw your first pokemon. Throwing his first pokeball into the air, a Zubat is released and it flutters around, screeching in high pitched squeals. You on the other hand decided on your main man Clifford. When his body hits the ground, he lands with a heavy thud. Loud, deep, ferocious barks are released as he realizes the situation. Shifting his weight onto his back legs, he readies himself so that when you tell him to go, he’ll be ready. Despite being far away, you can tell that the Zubat is nervous. Clifford’s a very intense Arcanine, but unlike a lot of others, he’s not just intimidating, but also brave. Not only does he come off as mighty, but also as incredibly powerful. 

 

Deciding that the poor Zubat doesn’t have much of a chance, you allow Gladion to make the first move. He finally shouts, “Wing Attack, Zubat!”

 

Charging down for Clifford in the small alleyway, there’s not much room to evade. So, your good pal takes the hit, but it does hardly anything to him. You shout out to Clifford, “Clifford, give ‘em the good ol’ Wild Charge!”

 

After looking back at you with an obvious grin, he gets excited and begins to shake his body while kicking his front feet. Once he gains enough static electricity, he covers his body in it. Hair on ends, he’s fully charged with electric energy and charges for the poor little Zubat. Zubat tries flying up, but Clifford isn’t having it. Jumping up from wall to wall, he leaves a slight indent where he pushed himself up and also on the walls he kicks off of to move up. Finally, he kicks off of the side and slams into Zubat. They both go straight up into the air, and a large ball of electricity surrounds the two. Falling rapidly, Clifford softly lands back onto the hard ground with a few scratches around his paws, while the poor Zubat slams against it. You feel kind of bad for it because it is straight up charred.

 

“You did the best you could, Zubat,” Gladion consoles the fainted Zubat as it returns to its ball in a red beam of light. He follows up by asking, “do you want to switch out your pokemon?”

 

“If I need to, then I will, buckeroo. Clifford’s my boy!” as you say that, he trots over and licks your face. In return, you pet him gently and feed him a pokebean. Rubbing around his shoulder reveals that he probably bruised it because he jerks away from you the moment you graze the tender spot.

 

“Null, I know you’re strong enough to win! Go my friend!” shouting out, he throws his pokeball and the odd creature that is Type: Null appears before you both. It kicks one foot back, as if asking for a fight. Of course, Clifford isn’t afraid of any regular pokemon. It takes a lot to intimidate your Arcanine, so this pipsqueak won’t do it. Arcanine moves away from you just slightly, facing Gladion and Null.

 

“Alright bud, you look like you know what to do, so let’s finish this off! Get in there with Close Combat!” you don’t even have to finish for him to start stampeding towards Null. Seemingly by surprise, Null apparently doesn’t really know how to react and neither does Gladion. Gladion tries telling Null to get out of the way, but before Null can move, Clifford has begun his series of kicks. Everytime you watch Arcanine use Close Combat, you can’t help but be amazed. His leg work is incredible as it moves so fast that you can hardly determine where each foot is. The final kicks always look the most painful because Arcanine takes a second to reel his back legs in, and then kick with both at the same time. Shoving his feet in Null’s face, he smacks him into the nearest wall where Null leaves an actual crater that outlines its body. Arcanine jumps back, waiting for Null to respond, but it flops onto the ground, clearly ko’d. Gladion runs over to Null and pets it while whispering into it’s… ear? You’re not entirely sure but Gladion is whispering something through it’s head piece. After a moment, he puts Null back into it’s pokeball and you follow suit with Clifford. Huffing multiple times, he walks over and shoots you a glare.

 

“You really beat me…” he mutters out.

 

“I have four more pokemon, but they’re not as strong as Clifford.”

 

“Clifford…?”

 

“Uh, my Arcanine. I named him after this children’s story called Clifford the big red dog. Clifford gets into all sorts of mischief because he’s too big for everything and it’s pretty cute.”

 

“Huh. Never heard of it.”

 

“I didn’t think it was something that transferred to this universe, haha! But uh, do you want me to walk you to the pokemon center?”

 

“No. I can’t be seen there. I have potions and revives…”

 

“Oooooookay! Well would you wanna go grab food somewhere and finish our discussion because I’m getting tired of this dark alleyway.”

 

“I can’t be in public a whole lot… my mother’s goons might find me and try to get me to go back to that dreadful place.”

 

“Welp okay! Let’s take a seat here then and finish our discussion from before,” you sit down about 20 feet away from the dumpster and Gladion sits next to you. Almost as soon as you sit down, drops of water start to come down. A slight drizzle begins.

 

“Shit, I forgot an umbrella…”

 

“I’m sure the rain won’t hurt,” Gladion’s response is fairly cold.

 

“I suppose so! I just don’t wanna get sick…”

 

“Hmph…”

 

“So… what all do you know about Spero?”

 

“I’ve overheard some things… I don’t know much, but I’ve overheard some talks between the boss of Team Skull and my mother.”

 

“What have you heard?”

 

“They said something about how they’re trying to work together with Spero, and how the company has made even more important discoveries without the use of pokemon. My mother said something about how Spero is a service for communicating between alternate universes. Apparently they’ve communicated with over a thousand alternate universes with differing species and timelines.”

 

“I see…”

 

“Although, they’re running across a problem right now because the diplomat they had been using suddenly disappeared. A bunch of people at the Aether Foundation have tried to do it but…”

 

“...but…?”

 

“I spoke with one girl. Her name is Amy… Actually, she was the first to do it. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to at first but the guy from Spero that comes here convinced her to try it out. He apparently told her it wasn’t that bad and that she could make a difference in the world if she did it. He like… rambled on about how it would change her life for the better and she believed him. When she came back she… she vomited so much that eventually blood started coming up. After a month in the hospital, I spoke with her again and she told me that she’s never experienced something so painful.”

 

“Did she say what exactly was painful?”

 

“Something about the other place she went to and how the people in that dimension were doing things to her… I don’t want to go into detail but-”

 

“Did she say that her muscles ached? Her eyes burned? Mouth dry?”

 

“Oh. Uh, yes to all of those. How did you-”

 

“Before I was conscious in this world, I remember being on a table surrounded by doctors and a blinding light. A heart monitor, and pain. So much pain. Everything hurt. When I focussed my attention away from the drilling in my head, my body didn’t just ache everywhere else, it was like… I felt my body pulsate at every ping of pain. I feel like being torn apart limb by limb probably hurts less than being on that table. At least closing your eyes doesn’t feel like rubbing sandpaper against them…”

 

“Amy described the pain really similar to how you’re describing.”

 

“I don’t know why it hurt, but everything just did.”

 

“Ever since that incident, Amy hasn’t been the same. It’s like… she lost a part of herself.”

“Heh…”

 

“Don’t laugh!”

 

“Sorry. I couldn’t help it. I don’t remember a lot, but I read a conversation between my best friend and I on what I assume is the last day in my universe. You know what she said to me?”

 

“.... What….?”

 

“My best friend said that I lost a part of myself when I joined Spero.”

 

“Wait, you work for Spero?!”

 

“Maybe? I don’t remember anything. I don’t think I want to remember anything.”

 

“Oh…”

 

Silence fills the air for a few minutes while the rain picks up. The pitter pattering on the ground in front of you brings you down from cloud nine. Perhaps that’s enough information for today, but you really don’t want to stop. This boy may not cross your path again for another month or so. Maybe it’ll be a year, even. Now is the only chance you’ve got as far as you’re concerned so if you want answers, you have to act.

 

“Do you know the name of that smooth talking douche?”

 

“Huh? Who?”

 

“You said there’s a guy who convinces people to try the universe jumping, right?”

 

“Oh, yeah. Uh, I haven’t heard his name. I think Amy said he goes by a nickname though. I think she said Mamba? Gold Mamba?”

 

“Black Mamba?”

 

“Yeah, that’s it!”

 

“If he’s who I’m thinking about, then that doesn’t suit him. He should go by Copperhead.”

 

“Why? What’s the difference and what even are they?”

 

“They’re snakes. Black Mamba’s are the most venomous snakes in my universe. If you don’t get the antivenom within like a day, you’ll die from their bite. But see, Black Mamba’s are skiddish and run away from humans, so you have to fuck with ‘em to get bitten. Copperheads on the other hand are aggressive. They’ll chase you down if you get too close and they’re also venomous. Not as deadly, but if you don’t deal with a bite, you can die or lose a limb.”

 

“Uh… I still don’t really get the point.”

 

“It’s moot. All I’m saying is that from what I remember, and if it’s the same asshole, he’s a vicious piece of shit.”

 

“Why? How is he that awful?”

 

“The last thing I remember this gentleman doing is drugging me and forcing me to do another experiment. That’s the last thing I remember… But he had the audacity to go on about fucking trusting him…”

 

“What do you mean by drugging…?”

 

“He put something in my drink and after a half an hour, I couldn’t function. I passed out and he forced me to do this experiment against my will.”

 

“That’s awful.”

 

“That’s what I remember… Uhm, enough about me, what else do you know? Can you tell me any other names?”

 

“I don’t know much else. The Aether Foundation’s connection with Spero is kept so secret that the people who know about it aren’t even allowed to leave.”

 

“Well thank you. At least I know something about this Spero company I supposedly worked for…”

 

The rain comes down even heavier than before. Without saying goodbye, Gladion runs off. It’s been an odd day, but at least you’ve gained more memories and knowledge.


End file.
